February Smalls SAL

February is a short month so here we are already at a Smalls SAL check in. The idea of this fun SAL is to stitch up something small each month. Maybe even finish it. Then you know you will have 12 things finished up at the end of the year. I used to be really bad about doing small pieces. Now I'm really enjoying the push to fill up my 3 layer shelf with a monthly seasonal type display.

I joined this SAL 4 years ago and picked a year long monthly piece. Now that's what I've stuck to. I have 3 full year long sets thanks to this SAL. This year I decided to do 2 sets. Lizzie Kate Stamps for me and a Nautical set for my mom.

My goal is to finish them each month throughout the year.

I got both the February pieces finished and even FFOd. (Fully Finished Off). I also finished up a little Valentine freebie for the Valentine Blog Hop this month...

So I finished 3 in January and now 3 more in February. I'm very happy with my progress. Have a great weekend. We are off to have a weekend of fun with friends.

Monday Update

Here we are another Monday. Today is a Monday after IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend). Most the time I have a lot of progress to share. I do have some but Saturday I was busy. It was a wonderful reason to be busy though. Fred and I went down to our cabin just the two of us to celebrate Valentine's Day together. It was a much needed break and it was wonderful. Dad and Bev came and picked us up for dinner and we went into town to a brewery that is pretty new. It was delicious. Not only the drinks but the food. Since Bev was being the designated driver we really could enjoy ourselves. Fred was like a kid in a candy store haha. It was nice to have an adult meal with my dad and step mom. Fred and I had also rented 3 scary movies...the new Halloween, Happy Death Day, and The Quiet Place. We had a really nice time relaxing and watching movies together. When we woke up it was snowy so we laughed about how now we have been to our cabin during all the possible weather events...sun, rain, tornado warnings, heavy wind, and now snow. It was chilly but our little heater did a great job. If Jeremiah would have been with us we would have used a 2nd heater to just give it that much more help. Being 20 degrees for the high didn't help to warm up the cabin. We were fine though. Perfect excuse to cuddle up a bit haha.

Anyway like I said in my last post. I got Ocean in a Bottle back out of hiding. I hadn't worked on it since August 3rd 2018. It's on my YOW list so hopefully it will be finished this year. Here is where I was when I got it back out...

I was getting close to a page finish. I worked on it Thursday, Friday and last night for a little bit after getting home. Here it is now...

I finished the stitching on the page! Wohoo. I'm going to put in the backstitching before moving to the next page. It's complicated so I'm sure it will take a bit but it will be so worth it I'm sure. I'm going to keep this one out for now. Everyone seems to enjoy it as much as I do.

Hope everyone reading this has a great week. We have a weekend of fun to look forward to. We are going away for the weekend with friends. So let's get this week over with haha. Now I'm off to catch up on emails and blogs. 

February Gifted Gorgeousness

Today is the 15th of the month which means it's time for a Gifted Gorgeousness Post. The idea of this blog event is to share things we have received as a gift or are stitching as a gift. It's always wonderful to see how fortunate we all are. Also how giving the stitching community is. I love the blogging/stitching community. Look at the fun Blog Hop yesterday for example. So much fun.

So let's look back till January 15th and see what fits for this post.






Salt Water Taffy by Joan Elliott is a piece that my mom got me for Christmas in 2016. I really hope to have it finished this year. Here is where I got on it after January's IHSW...

Beer Dragon by Paine Free Crafts is a gift for my hubby. This is where it was for the December Gifted Gorgeousness update on it since I forgot to update in January...

Here I am now with this one...

Bad photo with how cloudy it is today but it will have to do for now.

I have also finished up the February pillow for my Mom from the Sand, Sea & Cross Stitch book Nautical set...

I was lucky enough to have won a giveaway on Maggee's blog for this adorable biscornu chart...

I can't wait to stitch it up. Hopefully I will have it on display for Springtime this year. Need to get some lime fabric for it. I don't think I have any the right count.

This weekend is IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend). The idea is to warn your family. Get out your stitching and stitch the weekend away. I have some plans but hopefully I will also get some stitching time. I'm going to work on Ocean in a Bottle for the weekend...

I haven't worked on it since August 2018 so time to get back at it. Here is where it was when I picked it back up...

Getting close to a page finish. So we'll see how much time I can squeeze in. Have a great weekend. See ya Monday with an update.

Sweetheart Blog Hop Part 2

Earlier today I posted for the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop. I'm back for a follow up post.

First off I received this beautiful piece to put on display this morning...

I'm not the only one that loved it. Several of you commented on loving the blues that she used. Here is the story from the person who created it...

Happy Valentine's Day! Guess what! I am your sweetheart and that blue heart is mine! The story behind this goes like this. I wanted to stitch something really fast for a lady I love very much who is having a great adventure with her health right now out of which we all hope she will come out stronger. So I took a piece of very low count aida and lots of left over vintage threads I had. I found the pattern on pinterest and made it in blue because the person it is for loves blue. I tried to turn it into a little cushion with not much success so it finally ended up into a hanging ornament for her and she really loves it. That was all. I am glad you enjoyed the photo! AriadnefromGreece!

Thanks Ariadne for participating so we could all see your beautiful heart shaped piece. Go to this link to find the pattern if you are interested in it.

I also very much enjoyed looking through the list Jo posted on her blog. What fun love filled posts and so many gorgeous pieces to admire. Then I found my piece on display at The Alchymyst's Study. I'm so glad to see so many people appreciated my picture. Here it is...

This is the piece I was so excited to share with you guys. I finished it like a tuck pillow where the tuck part is attached. I just love this finishing technique since it's shows the backing fabric on the front as well. I see many many more of these type of pillows in my future. My little pink dragon and pink Yoshi just had to join in the photo. They love hugs and kisses too.

The pattern is a freebie available at this site if you are interested. I seen it on Instagram stitched by a friend Pam and thought it would be a fun fast stitch and boy it was. When hubby and I was getting groceries at Walmart they had this material pre-cut and I just couldn't pass it up. Plus it was only 97cents! I love how it turned out. Exactly what I had in my mind when I dreamed of how I wanted it to look. So now you understand why I was so very happy about it.

Another wonderful blog hop in the books if you ask me. Thanks Jo for hosting.

Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Found this adorable dragon online at bing images to share with you all. How cute. Now to why we are here. Not only is today Valentine's Day but it's also a blog hop hosted by the lovely Jo.

Hop over to this post by Jo and get a list of people participating in the Secret Stitching Sweetheart Blog Hop. We are going to each share a beautiful piece that Jo has emailed to us. You hop through the list and find the piece you stitched. It's a really fun hop through beautiful love filled blogs. I will be back later today to share mine after it has been found and tell you all who stitched the one I'm displaying.

Now to the beautiful piece I received in my inbox...

What a beautiful heart shaped lovely piece. I can't wait to hear the story behind it. Now off to hop around and see all the love.

Icy Morning

Woke up this morning to a beautiful layer of ice on everything outside...

Perfect day to stay inside and stitch don't ya think?

Monday Update with a Finish

Last week I finished up two pieces. Monday and Tuesday I stitched up a Valentine piece for the upcoming blog hop Jo is hosting. I can't wait to show you that one but you'll have to wait. I love the push to finish up a little seasonal cutie and Jo sure gave me that push. Then with Rachel's SAL like I said in my last post I got out my new sewing machine and FINISHED it. WOHOO!! I'm still just so happy I was able to figure out my new machine. Honestly I look forward to using it again. Big Big Change from the way I felt before I tried it that's for sure.

Tuesday after I finished up the Valentine piece I got started on my Lizzie Kate February Stamp. Last night I was able to finish it up finally...

(6) February 10th

February Lizzie Kate Flip-It Stamp

Stitched on 14ct Oatmeal Aida

Threads are Suggested DMC

Started Feb 5th. Took 6 Days.

It seemed to take forever because I got an hour here and an hour there. I was busy doing some things on the computer. We also got our Las Vegas vacation all finalized finally for April. What a pain making sure everything is setup and ready to go. I'm thankful it's over. Now we can just look forward to it.

It's a new week. Fred and I went out Saturday and gathered what we needed to stay in another week. We have snow, rain, wind, and ice in our forecast this week. So probably another stay inside kind of week. No reason to get Jeremiah and Mom out if we don't have to. Plus Fred and me enjoyed our time together grocery shopping really. I'm so lucky. He's a great husband.

So I hope everyone reading this has a great week. I'm going to start the week with some time on Beer Dragon. He misses me. Then we'll see what else jumps onto my Q-Snaps. I hope you find time to stitch too. See ya on Thursday for the Valentine Blog Hop!

February FFG

Today is the first check in for the FFG. What's the FFG you might ask? Rachel started this awesome new blog SAL called Fully Finished Gallery. It's the push I need to finish finish my stitching. When you finish a stitched piece it's easy to just throw it in a bin and let it sit. It honestly scares me to death to sew. 2 years ago I got into a fight with my sewing machine and gave up. I just couldn't get the stupid thread to load right. You have to be able to do that step to sew a straight line and that's all I wanted to do. I do know one in hand method of finishing so I do that as much as I can but I really had this idea of how I wanted to finish things. So I talked with Santa and agreed to be a good girl (stop laughing). I asked for a new sewing machine for Christmas. I got a new Brother sewing machine that the reviews said that kids could do it unsupervised. If they can do it so can I right?? I was scared to death but Friday I got my living room setup as a finishing studio and got to work. Well I over thought everything until early afternoon and then I got to work. TADA I did what I wanted to do. I'm one happy stitcher!!! Now to actually finish the 50 plus some pieces laying in my finished bin...

That's just a quick picture of the many many pieces waiting. I have some work to do! But it will be so worth it in the end. I want to enjoy those pieces instead of just hiding them in a drawer all the time. I did all the stitching so they are worth finishing and actually displaying.

So this is the push I need. Thanks Rachel!!! Stop over to her check in post to see what other people have done and maybe even join in yourself. The new check in posts will be on the 10th of each month.

So let's see what I have finished since the beginning of the year so far...

Plus the last one I'm really really excited to share....
But I can't. I'm saving it for Jo's Valentine Blog Hop. Trust me though it's finished....I LOVE it! It's on display. I catch myself staring at it. Come back on the 14th and you'll be able to see it finally.

So to explain my finishes so far two are from a Nautical Year set that I'm doing for my mom. The first and last photo. I did them as a pillow ornament with a 2nd panel of Aida on the back and I add the outline of the pattern and the date like the top picture shows. I can do this finish in hand and it's fast and so easy to do. The 2nd one is a Lizzie Kate Flip It Stamp set I'm doing for myself this year. The sea turtle is a Mill Hill kit I finished as a magnet. The other finished piece will be posted for Jo's upcoming Valentine Blog Hop so please come back to see it.

I'm close to a finish on my February Lizzie Kate piece maybe later today so I'll be able to include that next time.  Here's hoping I can join in each month and get those beautiful finishes finished finally.

Monday Update

Boy we had a crazy weather week last week. We spent 36 hours below zero. I think it got down to -45 wind chill too. We also got 4 inches of snow one day. It was just a weird cold frozen week. We survived though. We had all our groceries we needed and our home stayed warm and cozy. Just had to have a few talks with the dog about not playing outside. Brrrrr! Jeremiah's best friend had school canceled 3 days and Friday ended up being a 2 hour delay. Our local schools had to close Friday because the buses wouldn't start since they had been so cold. Crazy. So I stitched and watched a lot of TV shows on my DVR haha.

Like I said on my last Monday update I heard a lot of whispers from my WIP totes. Dream of the Sea just had to go away until I could get the whispers to quiet down. I walked over to see what I heard the loudest and out popped my Winter tiny from Erica Michaels...

Here is where I was with it after the 2 Days last time I had it out...

I worked on it 3 more days and it's here now...

The pattern of the border finally caught on and I was able to get a lot done. I was really happy with my progress. Then Friday it was February 1st and Mom's monthly set was screaming Hey Me ME!!

February from Sand, Sea & Cross Stitch Book

Stitched on 14ct White Aida Fabric

Threads are Suggested DMC

Started Feb 1st. Took 3 Days.

 

I finished it up yesterday I'm happy to report. Mom already has it proudly on display. Now I have a valentine piece to do for Jo's upcoming blog hop. Plus my Lizzie Kate set is telling me it demands to be after that. My stitching is sure demanding.  

Hope everyone has a great week ahead. Today we are having a heat wave compared to last week. It's 54 degrees right now. Our yard is a big wet mess with all the melting snow and now we have rain on top of that. We are supposed to get ice later tomorrow maybe. Just never know what we'll get. Probably another week of staying inside safe and sound. Hopefully it means lots of stitching time though so no complaining here.

The People's Choice -- Hearts

As always the wonderful Jo comes up with these ideas and we all follow along. Stop over to this post to see who else has joined in. This time she gives us a theme and we make a post about that theme. It's so much fun to see how we each interpret that word into a hopefully fun post. For this one we post on the first Saturday of the month. This month's theme is appropriate for the time of year...Hearts.

I always think I might have a hard time coming up with things to post about. Then a few days before I get ideas that start popping into my head. I had a few ideas of what I knew needed to be including then when I started the photography this morning I found several more things that just had to be included too. So let's see what I can put together today...

Mom found this heart shaped metal shelf unit one year for Christmas. I have all kinds of pretties on display inside.

We went to a craft fair and I bought this neat wall art piece. First glance it's just a pretty heart right?

Here is a side look. Yep this piece is made up of 340 nails! What a talent. I just thought it was so unique and I still get compliments when people see it.

I even remembered I have a heart fabric Q-Snap Huggy for my 6 inch set of Q-Snaps. How perfect for today's post.

A quick glance around my living room found several heart pieces I have stitched on display...

My smalls SAL set from 2016 February piece on display by my computer. This was from an out of print leaflet called a Year of Whimsy from Dimensions.

These two pieces were from 2004 and 2005. My first cube and flat fold finish that I took a class to learn. Of course I forgot everything on how to do those finishes now haha.

Last year's valentine love piece...I guess doesn't really have a heart on it but it felt left out. A tiny little heart biscornu that I have no idea when I made...let me see if I can find it in my files...found it from 2010. Then my February Durene Jones pillow from last year's Smalls SAL set.

So I guess I have stitched quite a few hearts. That's without going into my unfinished pieces. I'm sure there are more in there.

Now let's look at some new pieces to enable everyone. Rachel was mean and posted a new to me Etsy heart that I will probably have to get...

It's from Mother Bee Designs on Etsy. Wouldn't that make a beautiful pillow to display at my cabin? I can think of all the color possibilities it could be stitched in too.

Look at this one...

This is an Anatomical Heart from UnconventionalXStitch on Etsy. Guess they really do have something for everyone don't they?

What an adventure to do a post about hearts. I hope you enjoyed it. I did. Next month the theme is Freebies. At least it won't cost money to get enabled hopefully. Have a great rest of your weekend!

Monday Update

Hi readers! Brr we are going to be COLD here in Northern Indiana. Wind Chill Warning till Thursday 2pm right now. We could get wind chill temps of 50 below zero. We get cold but not normally this cold. We had 2 inches of snow on the ground from Saturday night and Sunday. Today we are getting more. At least 2 to 4 more inches. It's beautiful out the window. Tonight the winds are supposed to whip up and help make those temps shoot down. So we are bundled up and not going anywhere. Fred and me ran out and got the last groceries we needed Saturday so we won't have to venture out the whole week.

So yesterday in the WIPocalypse post I kind of showed already what I've been working on but I thought I would talk more about it. Last week Monday through Wednesday I worked on Beer Dragon and got 600 more stitches in now on Page 2. Then I heard an old WIP calling...

This is a kit from Down Sunshine Lane and Hands on Design called Dream of the Sea. It was a very limited edition complete kit where you got all the things to complete the pieces just like the photos above. I'm pretty sure since they have released a chart with the patterns in it though. I started this one in July 2017. I got a quick finish on the pouch in the lower right last July...

I started the pin cushion last July too but it wasn't finished. So I got back to work on it. Here it was when I pulled the piece back out Thursday morning...

I had 4 days into it and just needed to finish up that last side. I got it finished by the end of Thursday...

Friday and Saturday I started and finished up the spool piece...

Yesterday I started the tray design after getting caught up on some computer stuff...

I think I'll keep this one out and try to finish it. We'll see though. I hear a lot of whispers coming from my WIP totes. We all know how well I ignore them....most the time once the whispers become screams I just can't ignore them any longer.

Have a great week! Stay warm!!