April WIPocalypse

Yesterday was the last Sunday of the month. That means it's time for a WIPocalypse update. The idea behind WIPocalypse is to finish all our WIPs before the end of the world and no this stupid virus isn't going to be the end of the world. I won't allow it. I have way way too many WIPs still left to do. So I like to use this SAL to keep track of what I worked on and for how long. It's a fun way to look back at the progress I've made each month.

Pop over to Measi's blog to see what others have posted.

Here's my update and what I've worked on since March 30th...

99 Bottles -- 2 Days. Got the 4 bottles added for March and will be working on it this week to add the next 4 for my April goal...

Rabbit Freebie -- 2 Days. Started and finished this cutie up for the Easter blog hop...

All I need is... -- 1 Day. Finally got some more added to this old WIP...

April Fairy -- 5 Days. Started and Finished my monthly fairy...

Colorful Critters -- 4 Days. Started the new Stitchonomy SAL. I will give more information on this one in a later post. Two more have been released now. So far I've finished 4 parts...

Salt Water Taffy -- 1 Day.

Pizza Slice Mill Hill Kit -- 1 Day. Started this one at the cabin over the weekend...

Have to be careful with this one. Mom and Jeremiah kept trying to eat it haha.

Beer Dragon -- 1 Day. Added 254 stitches to this one...

 

13 non stitching days. Not too bad but definitely not the way I want it. I'm wracking my brain trying to come up with my May plan. I kind of want to join in Stitch Maynia but not with new starts. I don't think. Or do I? Or just a lot of progress on one piece? Or stitch with my monthly acrostic? Or do something totally different? Haven't figured it out yet.

I know tomorrow I want to start on the next 4 bottles for the 99 Bottles monthly goal. Most the time they take two days worth of time to stitch up. Guess we'll have to see what happens won't we?

Monday Update

Lots to talk about so grab a cup of your favorite drink and let's do this...

Wednesday I got busy on my April Fairy stitching. I was able to finish her up on Friday...

Of course she is splashing in a rain puddle because it's April right? Friday here in Northern Indiana we had a very interesting weather day...

3 inches of wet heavy snow. It was gone by Saturday but sure amazing to have such a heavy snow in April.

Lately one of Indiana's stitching stores has been showing a lot of photos selling things online. Which is just mean haha. This store is in Bloomington called Fancy Works and was the one who was going to host the March retreat I was going to attend. She posted these two photos one day and I really wanted them...

They are both Hinzeit charts and came with all the charms. They were $10 each. I got to looking and these are both really hard to find. I didn't buy them right away because we all know I don't need more projects! After waiting several days I went back to just see if they had sold and they hadn't. So I took it as a sign that they were meant to come to me. My reasoning Jeremiah LOVES patriotic things and I also have the perfect fabric to finish these two pieces into pillows and display proudly. So I did my part to support the economy and one of the great Indiana stitching stores.

Friday I got started on the Colorful Critters SAL the next SAL from Stitchonomy. I love animals and bright colors so this one will be fun. On Saturday I had finished up Part 1 and 2...

Pattern # 1 - Arctia Caja

The garden tiger moth (Arctia caja) is named after its tiger-like pattern on its wings. They are a warning to predators that though it may not have fangs, it is very poisonous! The tiger moth also has the cutest caterpillar which are often referred to as “Woolly Bears” due to their fuzzy appearance! (From Stitchonomy Just Found it Interesting and Thought you Might)

Pattern 2 - Campsosternus Auratus

The Jewel Click Beetle (Campsosternus Auratus) is an agile little beetle that can jump back up after it’s been toppled. To do this they literally ‘snap’ their spine producing a violent ‘click’ – hence the name! It also uses this noisy trick to scare of predators. (Again from Stitchonomy) 

So far these are fun and so bright and lovely to stitch. Part 3 was just released. It's a beautiful dragonfly.  So hopefully I will get it stitched later. I'm going to try to stitch on this one every other day or something so I don't just skip all my other WIPs to work on it like I did with the plants. We'll see.

Sunday I was open to stitch on whatever I wanted and that's when I made the changes I posted in my last post. So Beer Dragon demanded to be worked on. I added 254 more stitches and it's just so hard to put this one down that's okay though I love feeling in love with a piece...

Remember this is what this cutie will look like...

It was a lot of confetti so slower but still a blast to work on.

We were supposed to be leaving Thursday for our vacation to Vegas for Jeremiah's birthday. Unfortunately with everything going on we moved our trip. Hopefully we will be going in September. So instead we are going to our happy place our cabin. We are going down Thursday. At least he gets to be at one of his favorite places for his birthday. We have a lot of movies to watch and yes I'm packing some stitching too.

I hope everyone has a great week. Hope we all find a lot of stitching time. Be safe and stay healthy.

April Gifted Gorgeousness

Yesterday was the 15th. So that means it was time for a Gifted Gorgeousness update. I took the day to stitch and do laundry so I stayed offline. Anyway here I am today. The idea of this fun blog SAL is to share things we are stitching as a gift for someone or have received as a gift.

Stop over to Jo's check in post here to see what others have shared this time around.

Let's look back since the last post to see what I can share with you...

I am stitching on Ink Circles 99 Bottles of Beer piece for my husband. I want to finish it this year so I'm stitching 4 bottles a month so I can finish it off before Christmas I hope. In this span I have added 4 bottles for the March requirement...

 

My little rabbit piece you've seen several times now is also for an exchange so I think that would be considered a gift. Just not yet. We are waiting to finish the exchange when no one has to worry about the mail having problems. I know I have orders from Amazon that are sure taking their sweet time getting here.

That's all I have to share. Not a very gifty time right now.

Today was the first release for the Colorful Critters SAL from Stitchonomy. Look at this adorable moth...

He's a Garden Tiger Moth. He will be first on the new SAL. I think I will finish the April fairy though first. The new animals come out every 2 days. I can't wait to see what animals she has picked for us.

Here in Northern Indiana we went from 70's one day last week to a snow storm coming tomorrow. We are forecast 3 to 5 inches. Just crazy. I think we are just staying home this weekend. So hopefully that means lots of stitching time. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Homely Houseplants Finished

(Finish #6) March 4th

Homely Houseplants SAL

from Stitchonomy

Stitched on 28ct Cornflower Blue Evenweave

Threads Suggested DMC

Started Feb 1st. Took 18 Days.

Total Time 51 Hours 31 Minutes

My 2nd SAL with Stitchonomy is complete. The first one was the Snowflakes SAL and I really enjoyed it a lot. This year she is hosting 5 different ones. I'm looking forward to trying to do them all this year. We'll see. When the plants SAL was announced I was disappointed. I don't have one plant in my house. I've never liked plants. But just in case I thought I would sign up. I honestly enjoyed stitching these and now I want a plant or two haha. Maybe I'll get some at the cabin this year. Boy these took forever to stitch! I didn't plan on that that's for sure. I got it done though. It's about 8.5 x 11 inches. I'm planning to get some plant fabric and finish it into a large pillow to display. At least these don't have to be watered and I won't kill them haha. 

Now I can get to work on my 2 class projects. It's been a busy week and we have a few plans this weekend but I hope to squeeze in some stitching time. Enjoy your weekend!

Monday Update

Wow finally my last post for today. Good thing it's almost 11pm. It's been a long day. *sigh* It's okay tomorrow is a new day.

Last week was a full stitching week again. Every day I worked on the Heart Freebie for my half hour a day. Saturday was a mandatory stitch day and I'm happy to say I stitched on the Heart Freebie everyone day in February. No missed days. Even with our road trip. I worked on it Friday on the ride up. First time stitching in the vehicle. It's a little hard to find the holes with all the bumps but I got it. Saturday I worked on it at the hotel and finished up the design just as my last 30 minutes was over...

Reminder you can get this adorable pattern here. I stitched my version in my favorite color purple. I did successful complete the Embroidery.com challenge. I seen a peek at the needle minder we will be receiving and it's beautiful of course. So I will have a free needle minder prize and a finished piece to celebrate the challenge. Sounds good to me.

I pulled out Rules for Life Monday so I could mark off the letter R on my acrostic. Loved the progress I made one it...

Tuesday I worked on 3 other acrostic pieces. Camping out. I finished a small section under the tent section...

Wish Upon a Starfish. I made more progress...

Boba Fett. Got a start on the 2nd page...

Wednesday it was time to get back to the Homely Houseplants. 2 plants left. I started #11 finished it up Thursday after 6 hours and 21 minutes...

Thursday and yesterday I got some work on the last plant...

We had a great weekend away. Lots of laughs and more memories. It was to celebrate Damein my godson's 18th birthday. I can't believe he is 18 now! Wow. We went to two different casino's to practice for Vegas in April. It was a lot of fun. Friday I lost a lot but Sunday I won most of it all back right before leaving. I was really happy of course. Mom always seems to have good luck. So does Fred. Jeremiah lost a bit and won a bit so he did even. It was a great time. Swimming. Laughing. Eating out. Casino's. Family. Friends. Perfect memories.

Have a great week. I hope to finish that darn plant quickly haha. I'll stop posting now and leave you guys alone.

New SAL Announcement: Colorful Critters

Stitchonomy has announced her next SAL early in the Year of SALs...

COLORFUL CRITTERS

I must say I'm very excited because I love animals so much! So I've definitely signed up. 

Some more information according to the website here...

Sign up before April 15th for it to be free.

Must go to above website and sign up.

There is a kit available to purchase but not required. 

She emails a list of things of what we need

ahead of time as well.

This SAL is inspired by her ever increasing awe of nature and the tiniest creatures that inhabit our world! Don't worry - there won't be any spiders in this SAL!

This is a frameless collage stitch along.

 Starting 16 April one part of the 16 part pattern will be released 

and sent to your email every other day.

Can't wait to see what she picks!!!

Monday Update

Let's see what I stitched on last week...

Still working on the Heart Freebie every day for 30 minutes for the Embroidery.com #LovetoStitch challenge. Here is where this piece is as of yesterday...

That's Day 23 on this one. I have the heart I'm on and the large middle heart left to stitch. I don't know if it will take me all the way through the end of the month or not. 6 more days. I bet I'll finish it. I'm not good at estimating how long it will move along in the 30 min spans. I do have a 2nd piece ready to finish off the required 30 mins a day on.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I worked on the Homely Houseplants. I finished up #9 and #10 plants...

#9 is the top right plant. It's a chinese money plant. She told us they are really popular in the Netherlands where they call it a pancake plant. #10 is on the top shelf on the left. It's a calathea omata plant. The last two have been released and they are in the open spot on the left. They are both hanging basket plants that would be hanging from the "ceiling" in this piece. I can't wait to get them finished up.

Tuesday I also worked on Winter Time by New York Dreamer. This completes the A acrostic for the month...

It was a busy weekend. Fred had the day off work Friday and we went down to our cabin. My dad's work had a retirement celebration for him so we were able to attend that. We went out to eat together with some family friends after the thing at his work. Then we went back to the cabin and settled in for a movie together. Jeremiah was so happy to be in our home away from home again.

Saturday we surprised my dad with a big family and friends party at my Grandparent's house. It was fun to see everyone and we really surprised him. Sunday we cut down a few trees and had a nice meal together before heading home. Jeremiah said it was a tease since he wants it to be time to go back down every weekend. It was still pretty chilly out so it will have to wait a bit more. We did stay very warm in our cabin with both heaters running. It was wonderful.

Now it's time for another short week with a lot to cram in. I want to finish up the last 2 plants. I would love to finish up my other acrostic pieces so that means making a little progress on Rules for Life, Boba Fett, Wish Upon a Starfish, and Camping Out. With the plants and the heart progress and life I might just have to squeeze them all into one day just to make a few stitches and call them done. The plants just stole too much time this month. I'm already dreaming about what I want to stitch in March. We'll see.

Have a great week! We are also leaving Friday for a fun mini vacation to celebrate my god-son's 18th birthday.

Monday Update

Lots to talk about today. It's been a busy stitching week again. But first I wanted to share that I participated in an exchange which I haven't done in YEARS. Needlecraft Haven in a nice online bulletin board type of group.  I seen a few of my blog friends joining in their exchanges so thought I would check it out. The exchange I joined in was called a Valentine's Exchange. We were to include a paid of socks (Valentine theme), 2 matching DMC and a card. My package is taking the long way there. First my husband's postage machine didn't put enough postage on it so it showed back up at my house. Now it's taking the long way to get from Indiana to New York. I will sure be glad when it finally shows up safe and sound. I'm going to show what I sent because I don't think my exchange partner reads my blog...

3 pack of Socks, 4 DMC, card, and little piece of fabric. This is what I received in the mail...

The chocolate sure looks yummy. It was a lot of fun and definitely not my last exchange. I missed joining in.

Now let's look at what I stitched on last week...

Every day I put a half hour into the Heart freebie for the Embroidery.com #lovetostitch challenge. Here is what it looks like right now after Day 16...

Sunday the 9th a new plant came out but I worked on 99 Bottles to get the 4 bottles in. Monday I was busy and only got a little start on the 5th plant. Then Tuesday was a long day and I only got in my 30 minutes on the heart freebie. Wednesday a new plant came out. I felt way behind. Of course the 5th plant and 6th plant were big ones. Never fails. #5 was finished Wednesday. #6 wasn't finished until Friday. Saturday I really really wanted to finish #7 and #8 so I could be actually caught up. I did it!!! Here it is now...

#6 was the tall one in the pink pot. It's called a ficus lyrata or fiddle leaf fig. #7 is the hanging basket and I love it so much. It's a Devil's Ivy because she said you can't kill it. Sure I bet I could haha. #8 was back up on the shelf on the right in the blue pot. It's an aloe vera plant. With that I was finally caught up. I was curious how long I worked on it last week because it felt like FOREVER. I put in 16 hours and 59 minutes on this one!!!! Total now 32 hours and 54 minutes. Told you I feel like it's taking forever. Wow!!! 4 more plants now though. Then it will be done. Next up is a chinese money plant AKA pancake plant that goes on the top shelf on the right. Can't wait to see where the others go.

Sunday since I was actually caught up on the plants I pulled out Beer Dragon. It was called for both squares of my WIPGO board. If you haven't heard of that it's fun challenge where you make a bingo type board filled with projects you pick out and goals. Then you set rewards for each bingo you get. Each month 2 squares are called. 3 and 23 were picked this month and I had 200 stitches on Beer Dragon for each square.

Here it was before...

After 546 more stitches...

So my WIPGO goals for the month are complete. Wohoo! I will update the page on the tab at the top. I think the next numbers get picked on the 27th.

So this week's goals. Keep up with the Heart Freebie and 2 plants on the Homely Houseplants SAL. Since we have a weekend away planned the Friday and Sunday plant will have to wait till we get home. Then I'll play catch up again till it's finished. So hopefully I can mix some other stitching in there too. We'll see. My dad is retiring Friday so we are going down to celebrate with him. Plus a weekend at the cabin. We are very happy about that. It's been since Christmas. We miss it. No outside work so I'll take some stitching with me don't worry.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Monday Update

Don't worry I'm still stitching like a mad woman. Let's see what I've been working on...

Heart Freebie I've worked on every day for a half hour a day for the Embroidery.com #Lovetostitch Challenge. If I keep at it and post everyday (with 4 allowed miss days) I will get a free needle minder. I participated in the WitchyStitchy challenge during Halloween and the needle minder was very well made and definitely worth participating. I've been stitching this adorable heart freebie that I seen a picture during last year's Valentine Blog Hop...

You can go here to get the freebie if interested. I'm doing mine in 4 different purples on this beautiful random piece of purple 28ct evenweave I had in my stash. Here is the most recent picture after day 9 on it...

If you would like to see my daily progress check out my Instagram here.

I've also been doing good keeping up with the Homely Houseplants SAL. Worked on it 4 days last week. We have 5 plants now. I have 4 finished...

Plant 1 was the huge one it's a monstera plant. 2 is the small cactus sharing a table with the monstera plant. It's a columnar cactus. The one in the 3 legged display is a sanseviera plant also known as snakes tongue. The little tiny cactus on the first shelf is a globular cactus. I love the way this one is turning out so far. It's time consuming but I'm enjoying them. I didn't do yesterday's yet I wanted to work on something else for the day. I will start it today after my half hour on the heart.
As you seen in my FFG post I finished up the Feb fairy Wednesday. The other piece I worked on last week was 99 Bottles over the weekend. I have the 4 bottles added for this month. Remember in order to meet my goal of finishing this year I want to add 4 bottles a month. I had 48 left to stitch this year. Now I have 40 left. Here is the new 4 bottles on the 6th shelf...

Sunday we had a meet up to stitch at the hospital cafeteria right near me. Yes it seems funny to gather at a hospital but the cafeteria is huge and makes a fantastic meeting spot. We had 8 total this time. 3 new ladies. 2 came from 2 hours away to attend! It was a horrible snowy day too so how nice to meet them. Glad we were able to still get out and see each other. We sure had a lot of fun.

Over the weekend we binge watched Locke and Key on Netflix. We really liked it. It's a mix of Series of Unfortunate Events and Harry Potter. Magic. Mystery. Kind of spooky but not too bad in my opinion. We did watch a very nice scary movie called Eli. I loved it! Lots of twists and turns and I sure didn't predict the ending. The last one we ended up binge watching too was The Stranger. Definitely a mystery with lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed it overall though the ending really wrapped it all up and finally answered the questions so that's always nice.

Jeremiah has been having gaming marathons on the weekends with 3 friends. My godson, his dad, and brother. The boys got their dad an Xbox for Christmas. They are playing the same game together and talking via Xbox Live. Jeremiah has been having a blast. It's great to hear him laughing so much. So it makes late nights and extra TV watching time haha. Which is okay because I seem to get a lot of stitching time along with that haha.

Have a great week. I'll be working on the Heart Freebie, Homely Houseplants, and then working on getting my WIPGO goals met. Both numbers called this month were for 200 stitches on Beer Dragon. So I'll shoot for at least a minimum of those 400 stitches to call that one complete for the month. It's also on my monthly acrostic so that works.

Monday Update

Some people suffer from lost mojo. I swear my mojo is going to EXPLODE. I need to share some of my mojo with someone who needs it. I want to stitch all the things and I want to do it NOW. Let's see what I've been working on this last week.

Last Monday I took my first day off since January 1st. After the weekend marathon I just wanted a break from stitching. Tuesday I got started on the Mill Hill Camping Out. It's the companion piece to the one I finished last year for my cabin. In my wrap up post I shared a photo of the Camping Out Mill Hill. Thursday I got the section finished up and worked on Salt Water Taffy for the rest of the day. I finished up the left side of the chart. Here are the photos I shared in my wrap up post again so you can see what I'm talking about...

Friday was time for the last letter in my acrostic Wish Upon a Starfish I didn't think I would get 4 hours but I actually did and even 3 minutes longer than the full 4 hours. It was hard to put down. Here is where I got with that one...

Saturday was the 1st and I was READY to go!!! Exciting new month full of stitching plans. 3 new starts!!!

Every day I'm stitched a piece for a half hour for the #Lovetostitch challenge for the Embroidery.com group. I'm using this adorable heart freebie that AriadnefromGreece stitched last year for the Valentine Blog Hop. I fell in love with it and wanted to stitch it myself...

Half hour sure goes fast. I'm doing mine in 4 different purple DMC on this beautiful piece of hand dyed 28ct evenweave someone gave me. Here are my 2 days so far...

Also got started on the February Fairy. But she isn't getting a lot of attention. Here is my sad amount on her from 2 days of stitching on her...

She's only been out 1 hour and 17 minutes. Because my other new start was the Homely Houseplants SAL. The first plant came out Saturday too! It was a monster. Well the plant is a monstera plant so I guess it makes since it would be a monster to stitch up...

It took 7 hours and 39 minutes to finish up!!! What a time stealer. Today's plant is a lot smaller so hopefully it won't take near as much time. It's a little cactus that sits beside the one already stitched. Every 2 day I get a new plant until I have 12 total. I really love the way it looks. Finally plants I can't kill and don't have to water.

So I've been stitching like a mad woman and LOVING it. I just am going crazy because everything else wants to be stitched too. The mail came Saturday and I got two class projects that I need to work on and finish before my March retreat. But I looked and told them they can wait till March. I won't have a problem finishing them up before the retreat since it's the 25th. Right? Haha. Besides I already have MORE than enough I want to do this month. Plus there were two new freebies released that I printed out. One for Easter. One from Hands on Design. Did you see her new anniversary piece? Adorable!!! So stitch stitch stitch I must. Here's hoping I have enough hours in my February to do everything I want to do.

Over the weekend we watched Lost in Space on Netflix. Only 4 left of those. We didn't watch the Superbowl. Just no interest in NFL in this house. WWE is our only sport we watch.

Have a great week! Stitch Stitch Stitch!