June Gifted Gorgeousness

The 15th of the month is when we post on the lovely Jo's blog for a Gifted Gorgeousness update. For this blog SAL we post about things we have received as gifts or are stitching as gifts for others. Stop over to this post to see what everyone has shared this time. Let's see what I can post about this time around...

I finished up Mom's May and June pillows with the Nautical theme. I've posted the photos several times now in a row so I will spare you guys with more pictures of the same thing.

I worked on Wish Upon a Starfish in this span which was a gift from my mom to remember our trip to California because we loved seeing all the starfish in the ocean along the coast...

I also just started Adjust your Sails which was a gift from Bridgette. I will be posting the photo for that tomorrow for my Monday update though so please stay tuned for that.

Over the weekend though I received an awesome gift I would like to share with you...

My close friend Sam that went to Vegas with us made this diamond painting for me. She knew I love dolphins. I also love purple and there is so much beautiful purple in this design. She fell in love with diamond painting a bit ago and I keep picking on her asking if stitching is next haha. I need to find a frame for this so I can display it.

I'll be back tomorrow for a Monday Update. See ya then.

June FFG

On the 10th of the month there is a check in for the Fully Finished Gallery. The fantastic idea behind this is to push us to finish off our stitching that we have finished. I know I have a drawer full of pieces screaming to be on display instead of just hiding away. Stop over to Rachel's blog to see who has joined in and their beautiful finishes this check in. If you follow my blog you know I was busy for the May check in with our awesome trip to Vegas for Jeremiah's 21st birthday celebration. So I want to recap what I have finished since my last check in which was April...

Right after my last check in post I finished up my April Lizzie Kate Stamp...

Before we left for vacation I put together this fun Bunny and Tulip Biscornu for the Easter blog hop...

This photo shows the top and bottom. I really enjoyed putting it together.

After our trip in May I finished up the May monthly pieces I'm doing. One Nautical set for my mom and my Lizzie Kate Stamp set...

 So far in June I've finished the two monthly set pieces again...

I haven't done any older pieces in this span because it has just FLOWN by. Hopefully I will have some time before the July check in post to finish up something older again. So let's see what I've finished now since this SAL started...

 February -- 5

March -- 6

April -- 5

May (Didn't get to post) --  2

June -- 4

So a Total of 22 now!

Thank you Rachel for this push to finish things instead of just letting them set and wait.

Monday Update

It's 10pm but I'm trying to get this post squeezed in before my bed time. It's Monday and I like to do a wrap up post. To talk about what I was up to since last check in which happens to be last Monday.

So let's see...

I kept working away on mom's nautical monthly piece and finished it Tuesday...

Wednesday I got started on my Lizzie Kate Stamp. I finished it up Friday before our weekend away...

Thursday I was checking Instagram and I started seeing a new to me hashtag #24HoursofCrossStitch so I got to poking around. I was curious what was going on. I found this wonderful video explaining a new to me monthly challenge...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybVKQiY2LaY

I had been watching some other lovely ladies doing these challenges and just didn't think I would be able to keep them straight. Honestly they just sounded like more work than I wanted to put into it. But I loved the idea of the community of stitching friends and doing "homework" like I used to love so long ago in school. This printable sheet Jen made is very easy to understand. Since I was working on the June piece it worked for the Y. Let me explain. It's Lizzie Kate Flip It Stamp June piece but it's a Year Long Set. So it fits. She explains to do whatever you have to do to fit it in. I see the connection don't you? Plus it was a marathon weekend. The goal was to put 24 hours into your stitching some time in the 48 hours of your weekend. Some ladies even did it 24 hours straight!!! I kept track of my time Friday and got 7 hours and 35 minutes in. I had to go to sleep though because we were hitting the road Saturday morning. I will enjoy joining in future marathons weekends and look forward to seeing what other challenges she comes up with.

We were heading up north west. Which means we would be close to my favorite stitching store House of Stitches. So of course we just had to stop. I literally ran through the store grabbing things that I wanted. I got everything I needed and a lot lot more...

Let's zoom in a bit...

Mill Hill Kits -- Tree Shopping, Happy Camper, Hedgehog, Harvest Wagon, Pizza Slice, Fishing Vest and a Quick Stitch patriotic cutie from Stoney Creek.

Back to the top Mill Hill Kits -- Better photo of Harvest Wagon, Moonstruck Manor, Taboo Kitty, The big kit is Cabana Beach. Also got replacement snaps for my one broken Q-Snap clamp. Two threads I need for Adjust your Sails, and a package of beads for another project in my stash. I was one happy shopper!! Of course I thought of other pieces I wanted after I left but I'm sure I'll be back sometime or I could always make my 123stitch order I've been wanting to place for the rest right?

Now that the shopping is out of the way we could get to our hotel. We stayed in New Buffalo, Michigan. Jeremiah's best friend Damein was graduating Sunday. Now I have talked about Damein before on my blog. He's Jeremiah's best friend. His family and my family have become family pretty much. He calls me Aunt Katie and has for a long long time. His mother is my sweet friend that past away this past January. He is 17 years old and he decided awhile ago he wanted to graduate a year early and boy he put his mind to it and did just that. He was pushing himself to do it so she would be here for it. So unfortunately she wasn't able to make it. So we were so thankful when he asked us to come up to attend. We made it to the hotel and Damein and his dad came over to visit and hang out. We went to a big casino nearby and had a delicious buffet.

Another happy place. After Vegas I really became addicted excited about gambling again haha. They had all my favorite machines from Vegas too. I only lost $10 on Saturday. Jeremiah and Damein played in an arcade since he's still a baby. Then we went back to the hotel so the boys could swim. It was wonderful and they got one on one time. I told Damein I really went all out and booked the whole pool area since it was only the two of them and he really laughed about that. (We won't tell him just happened to be no one there right?) They headed home for the night since they had to be to the school early Sunday to get ready. We got all checked out Sunday morning and went back to the casino for an hour....

Like I said.....I'm addicted haha.

Jeremiah gambled with us this time since Damein wasn't there. We thought it was interesting that we spent two weeks in Vegas and Jeremiah never got carded to prove his age. In Michigan he got carded both days haha. He had fun though. I gave him $20 and he cashed out $40 when we left. Wohoo! We won't mention I lost money but at least he came out ahead. Then we went to the graduation. Here is a picture of us after the event...

I love this kid. I was asked a few years ago if I would be his Godmother. I was honored. He has amazed me every day with what he can put his mind to. He is so sweet to Jeremiah. I will always be here for him whenever he needs me. So thankful he wanted us to be a part of his day. We had a great weekend.

I will be back tomorrow with my FFG post. Stay tuned.

Monday Update

Last week I decided to work on Wish Upon a Starfish. I had it packed with us on our Vegas trip. I also took it down to the cabin at least once. But it just never seemed to make it out of the bag. I decided it was time to get it out and get some stitches in finally. Last time I had it out was Jan 14th...

I decided to make my way toward the bottom left of the design this time. After 3 days of work here is where I got...

I reached the bottom left and started my way right. Over the weekend at the cabin I actually found time to stitch...

This was inside our cabin in the morning. Fred was helping dad with a lot of big tasks that I couldn't help with very well. Jeremiah was watching a movie and I stitched a little bit. Then we moved out to our porch since the day was gorgeous. Jeremiah read a book and I stitched some more. I finished the back panel down there Saturday. Sunday when we got home I started working on the front. Here is the piece now...

It was another fun weekend down at the cabin. I got another sign up that I got for Christmas...

This is by the front door inside of our cabin. Fred and Jeremiah did some log splitting this weekend...

I was on a mission to get a photo of this little wren that nested in this cute gnome face my Grandma got...

Found a cute frog. I told it to leave my stitching alone please.

Finally got a photo of the adorable wren peeking out at me. This coming weekend we have a graduation to attend so we will miss a weekend at our cabin. But getting to see friends makes it worth it indeed. I hope everyone has a great week!

The People's Choice -- Mermaids

The first Saturday of the month the lovely Jo is hosting this fun blog check in. She gives us a theme and we make a post on whatever we feel fits that theme. Stop over to her post and see what others have shared for their posts this time around. The theme for the month is Mermaids!

I won't have a problem with this one. I have a lot of mermaids.

 

 

 

 My upstairs bathroom has all kind of mermaids. Ceramic, metal, wood, glass, heavy wrought iron and more metal. I love them all. I always loved swimming as a kid and my whole family said I was a mermaid in a former life. My laptop has a mermaid sticker on it...

My phone case is Little Mermaid and I have a Jim Shore mermaid from Disney Little Mermaid too...

That's a few I could find today on a search of the house. I'm sure I have more here or there. Now let's look at my stitching. According to my photos I've only finished one mermaid right now...

That's Seaside Squared from Erica Michaels. I finished the stitching in 2016. It's in my pile of things to FFO. Now I have many many more in my stash and WIP pile so let's take a quick look...

I purchased this one September 2018 which is called Sirena and really look forward to adding to my WIP list sometime.

Plus the adorable mermaid biscornu I recently purchased when I attended the Hoosier Retreat and is begging to be stitched up too. I also have a few in my WIP totes...

Aquatic Maiden from Tilton Crafts I haven't worked on since 2016. Here she was last time I worked on her...

Just remembered there is a mermaid on the Under the Sea SAL that is on my YOW list but I already finished up the mermaid...

I need to add 5 months to this one though to finish up the year long SAL. This was a mystery SAL from Lakeside Needlecraft from 2017.

I'm not going to look at my stash too hard because I'll be tempted to start a bunch of new pieces. Trust me though I'm sure there are more because like I said I love mermaids. Plus I'm sure there are more for sale that I need want shouldn't get probably will buy sometime since we all know me haha.

May Smalls SAL Check In

Today is the last Friday of the month which means it's time for a Smalls SAL check in. Mary is hosting it over at her blog so stop over and see what people have posted. I use this SAL as an excuse to stitch up a monthly piece all year long. This year I'm doing a Nautical set for my mom and a Lizzie Kate set for myself.

Even though we've been busy busy with our traveling the end of April and beginning of May I was able to finish both April pieces and both May pieces. I didn't get to join in the April Smalls post but you can scroll down and see those pieces if you like in my previous posts. Here are my May finishes again though...

Tomorrow is the first day of June so I have my June Nautical piece packed to go to the cabin for the weekend just in case I find some extra time while there.

Other future plans I would like to share with everyone now. After finishing up my two June pieces I want to start Adjust your Sails. Bridgette who sent me the pattern is going to stitch it along with me. I will work on that until the 3rd full weekend of June which is starting June 21st. Fred has plans and will be gone all weekend. It's IHSW weekend plus Jo will be hosting the Longest Day SAL. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Stitch on one piece the whole time. Stitch on a bunch of different pieces for a certain period of time. I just couldn't settle on an idea. Then I woke up one night and was laying in the bed. I swear I do the best thinking in the middle of the night. An idea popped in my head and I'm so excited.

Friday morning I will start. I'm going to put all my WIP names in a tin. Jeremiah (or mom) will pick a WIP out. I will make a goal on that piece and write it down. Something like finish an area, finish a symbol, certain number of stitches, or certain amount of time. At the end of that Jeremiah will pick out the next paper. Then I thought why just do that Friday for the Longest Day SAL. I'm really looking forward to it. So I'm going to keep at it for the whole IHSW. So Friday morning until Sunday evening at bed time. My other goal is watch as many TV shows off my DVR as I can because I'm so far behind.

Now I can't wait!!! I've warned the family. I'm going to make sure everything is ready and waiting for me to stitch stitch stitch. Will you be joining in? What's your plans. Let's make it a big one. Bring in Summer with a bang.

Day Late Monday Update

Yeah Yeah it's Tuesday but yesterday was a holiday so I'm posting today. You might have noticed in my WIPocalypse post I had a new finish. I started working on my Lizzie Kate May Stamp on Monday last week. I worked on it 4 days and manged to finish it right before leaving for the weekend to our cabin Friday...

The weekend was rainy and our poor campground was just a muddy mess. So no real work was able to get done but it didn't stop us from having fun and enjoying time together as family. We got a new antenna for our TV and it made a HUGE difference. Now we can finally enjoy some TV instead of hoping it works here and there. Monday after we were home we heard tornadoes warnings. There were 3 warnings right near where our cabin is located. One tornado hit just a few miles away and destroyed 2 houses. So scary. Dad went over to check on everything and other than a lot of flooding everything was okay. We were all glad we weren't there at the time. All the family reported in safe and safe so a very scary situation ended good at least.

At the cabin Jeremiah and I worked on a Lego kit we got in Vegas that represents the Las Vegas Strip. I didn't get any photos. I will next time. I was just enjoying living the memories instead of capturing them this weekend I guess. I've had Wish Upon a Starfish packed while we traveled and every weekend at the cabin so far. So when I got home I finally sit down and pulled it out. I put in a few stitches but I'll wait and share an update later. Felt good to work on it again.

I hope everyone has a great week. It will feel short but I feel like I have a lot I need done in that short time. So I'll breath and do my best.....all I can do.

April and May WIPocalypse

I missed the April check in for the WIPocalypse which was while we were on vacation in Vegas. So I'll do a recap from the beginning of April for this WIPocalypse. The point of this fun blog game/SAL is to stitch all our WIPs before the end of the world. Don't worry my WIPs alone will keep the world from ending I'm sure. I will NEVER finish them all because I keep adding new ones all the time. So for this SAL I like to keep track of what I've worked on and how many days I've spent on each project. It's fun to look back and see what I've spent my time on. Plus this helps me have an idea how long a project has taken me to finish.

Nautical Year -- 6 Days -- This set I'm doing for Mom. I'm stitching a year long monthly set from Sand, Sea, and Cross Stitch book. In this time frame I finished up April and May. So far I've stuck to finishing them up every month...

Lizzie Kate Stamps -- 8 Days -- I'm doing this set for me this year. In this time frame I finished up April and May...

Bunny & Tulip Biscornu -- 3 Days -- I finished up this cute little freebie for Jo's Easter Blog Hop...

The photo is showing the the top and bottom.

I had a lot of no stitching days...39 total...because of our fabulous vacation and time at our cabin. We've been really busy at the cabin preparing for a big party June 15th so no resting/stitching time while I was there yet. Yesterday I started working on Wish Upon a Starfish but I'll wait and update after I get some progress on it. My plan is to work on it till Saturday. Then I will finish up my two June pieces and I really really want to start on Adjust your Sails. So that's my plan as of right now.

Measi also gives us fun questions to answer if we want to. Question of the Month: Where do you love to shop for stash? In person I love to go to House of Stitches in Laporte, Indiana and Fancy Works in Bloomington, Indiana. Online I go to 123stitch or downsunshinelane. I have a LNS (local needlework store) here in my town but they don't stock very much stuff. It's a great place to go for threads, fabric, and framing though.

It's our busy time of the year but I'm trying to squeeze in stitching time. Hopefully next time I'll have more projects to share.

Vegas Recap

Okay I think my last loads of laundry will actually be done today. First week I did 7. Then I did 4 Tuesday. Couldn't believe that amount didn't finish the backlog of laundry but of course we add to the pile everyday. No probably 2 or 3 more loads today to go. That job is never truly done though is it? So the other thing I wanted to do to feel caught up was talk about our trip here on my blog.

So I posted our trip there on the train and the first few days. The real fun started after Jeremiah was official in the eyes of the law haha. We had 11 total in our group and boy we had a blast. My Dad's part of the group stayed through Tuesday morning. So we kind of stuck around downtown where our hotel was located. One day we did walk to a museum...

It was a Mob Museum and told the history of how Las Vegas was pretty much built by the mob. Some think it still has a lot of mob connections. It was a really nice museum and we really enjoyed our time there walking around.

Tuesday after Dad and friends left. We had us 4 and two close friends still there. They got to stay in Vegas till Saturday the 4th. We had found out you could walk a little bit from our hotel and catch a bus that went everywhere we wanted to go. So we all loaded up and our first stop had to be the Vegas sign of course...

We did a LOT of walking. The strip hotels/casinos are HUGE so you walk and walk and walk and walk and don't get out of the one casino. Last time we were in Vegas they had this survey place you could go in and watch an upcoming TV show. You would tell them how you liked the show and they base that information on whether the show will actually make it TV or not. We are TV maniacs so we did it then. This time for whatever reason they were paying people $40 each to watch the show. So we figured we would check it out...

At the end of it we each got $40 cash! That's awesome. Free money in Vegas. I'm sure the casino knew they would get the money back. Mom put in $20 and made it up to $40. I told her to keep playing and then she lost almost all of it...

It was my fault totally. She was proud of her 12 cents though haha. The bus system worked really great. When mom couldn't walk any more I can go with her back to the hotel. Then meet back up with everyone else. Perfect. Jeremiah, Fred, Tim and Sam would get to see some other stuff I had already seen before. We thought this bar they found was really neat...

It had a handicap section at the bar. The bartender would even talk directly to Jeremiah and ask him what he wanted to order. Very well thought out! Of course my new legal kiddo ordered water. He's not going to be a big drinker. He really likes being able to take a sip of something new. Just not a real drinker. Which is totally fine. I'm proud of him for being who he wants to be. No pressuring him.

May 1st was mom's birthday so we took her to some places she really wanted to see. One was the Venetian. It's based on Venice, Italy. Inside you can go on a gondola ride. So I told Mom we would do that for her birthday...

The gentleman would sing to us the entire time and it was beautiful. Boat ride in a hotel. Crazy! Before we got out I asked him to sing Happy Birthday and it was just gorgeous.

Thursday we went to a concert called Blue Man Group. These guys are crazy. We had saw them in Vegas on our honeymoon in 2001. Then the traveling group came to our town and we took Jeremiah because we knew he would love it. Tim and Sam hadn't seen it before so we were happy to go again. Plus Mom hadn't seen it either. There are three guys painted blue and they don't speak. Yet their show is hilarious. Then they also play instruments made out of PVC pipe. It was a great show! Jeremiah got to meet one of the guys after the show...

At the end of the show they pretty much bury the audience in toilet paper. So that is what Jeremiah is wearing as a tie around his neck haha.

Friday our feet were done. So no going to the Strip again. We had done everything we could have done this time. It's an amazingly huge place that's for sure. Saturday was our last day together. They left in the evening. The hotel setup a wrestling ring and they had a huge Cinco De Mayo festival with Lucha Libre wrestling. It was a fun time for Jeremiah and I after the others had left for the airport. We started our trip home Monday evening. Our train was running very late and it felt like it took forever to get home. I think we just really tired. We had a nice time though made it home safe and sound Wednesday night.

Overall the trip was just amazing. Jeremiah had a blast. So many more photos have been posted to Facebook if you are on there. Just can't post them all here. Normally we travel to places and think we'll be back someday. Vegas is the kind of place I just can't wait to go back. I did get very into gambling at the slot machines. I did not spend more than I was supposed to though. My dad had a great idea. He said take only money you don't have to have to survive. Divide your total by how many days you are there. Use only that day's worth. If you spend it. Go to bed haha. I did that and I stuck with it. I noticed some days I didn't need to get out that day's money until later. I did have two days where I showed Fred my empty little wallet and said I'm going to bed haha. The last day at the almost the last moment I hit and cashed out $500 so I came home with a few days paid back.

The hotel was great. We ended up getting a big discount because of how many hours we had spent gambling. My friends got their entire hotel stay free. We got half taken off our room. I was really impressed by how they treated us and all the staff that worked there. The strip is a lot more expensive and way too busy. I will definitely be staying at the Plaza again.

Our train system is nice. The drawbacks it's more expensive than flying and you can't really pick the times. They are in the area at set times and not very convenient for those who don't like to board at 3am. So I might fly in the future. If my doctor can knock me out with medication haha. We will be going back. My dad and step mom go once a year. Jeremiah already asked them when they are going again. He loved Fremont Street. The people. The performers. The you never knew what you might see. Believe me we seen a lot I can't post haha. It's a big difference there than Indiana. Everything is legal there haha.

It was a birthday to remember! Now you are caught up on our trip. Thanks for traveling along with us.