99 Bottles in Finished

 

99 Bottles of Beer

From Ink Circles

Stitched on 28ct Evenweave (I Think)

Threads are Suggested DMC

Started April 2013. (Before Tracking Days)

The final stitches went into it last night!!! It was neat because my hubby was here and celebrated with me. I got to looking I started this one in April 2013!!!! So I added the year 2021 to the bottom right then added 2013 to the bottom left. I thought that was pretty neat. How long this piece has haunted my WIP pile haha. It feels a mix of sad and very very happy to have it finished. I will miss it but I'm so glad it's done. We are going to wait till after the Christmas rush and get it framed which is perfect because hubby's bday is in March so perfect bday present. 

Today is finally December so we got to start our Advent calendars. We all have one this year. Even Spike...

Today he got lumps of coal (treats). It has a mix of toys and treats. Since he loves everything we knew it would be worth it. He loved the coal and has been glancing at the table to see what's next all day haha. Jeremiah and Mom got Lindt chocolate. Fred and I got a different chocolate Madelaine. 

Wish Upon a Starfish swam out of the WIP box and asked for attention. So she is up next. See ya Monday for my next update. Have a great rest of your week and Fantastic weekend ahead.

Monday Update

 Guess what?? That's the last bottle!!! So close to finished now!! I worked on it 4 days last week. We also had our Thanksgiving celebration. Just us and mom which is okay with me. Ate ourselves miserable. Gained 3 pounds haha. Oh well it was worth it.

We gave Spike a special Ham bone wrapped in prosciutto from a local pet store. So it was dog approved. He LOVED it. Ate it all day and now carries around the small piece of bone that remains. We had deviled eggs, veggies and veggie dip, cheeses, olives, ham, turkey, loaded mashed potatoes, and broccoli with cheese.  It was a nice relaxing day. No black Friday shopping. But we did go down to our cabin again. Last weekend for deer hunting. No deer caught but they still had fun. Saturday we got to watch 3 movies and it was a nice relaxing day. 

Now to get the house changed over to Christmas. I don't know why but I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year. I normally get excited but for some reason I'm just really happy this year. Good!!! Hope I stay that way all month long. I love this time of year. Slow down and enjoy everything.

Listen closely I'm sure you'll hear the yell when I finish the 99 Bottles piece. Have a great week. Smile. Love yourself.

Monday Update - 99 Progress

 Guess what fell out of my WIP basket...

99 Bottles by Ink Circles. Last worked on April 18th. I'm on the last shelf. Bottle #91 was being worked on...

Was able to find time 4 of my days this past week. Including Saturday at the cabin which was wonderful. Here I am now...

On bottle #94 now. Finally progress. So just 6 bottles left. Can I finish it before I put it away again? I'm sure going to try. I get bored after awhile but this is SOOOO close it might keep me going.

 

Random Spike photo...

He loves crossing his front legs. It makes him look so adorable!

We went down to our happy place for the weekend like I said. It was a nice relaxing weekend. Fred was deer hunting with my dad. So Jeremiah, Spike, and I relaxed which is why I got stitching time.  No luck with the deer. Poor dad really wants to catch one so Jeremiah can see the process of getting the meat ready. We have this coming weekend after Thanksgiving. Sure hope we get one. 

Have a Happy Turkey Day all my US readers. We are planning to eat ourselves miserable of course. Holiday calories don't count I've heard so that's good. I sure have a lot to be thankful for. How about you?

Another Catch Up Post

 Yep still behind. I'm doing great. Just busy moving and making myself healthy. I had a lot more time when I was fat and lazy haha. 

First Up March Smalls was the last Friday of the month. Head over here to the check in post to see what others have stitched up this month. Remember the purpose of this SAL is to finish up something small each month. I've joined in a few years and I pick a monthly piece to stitch all year.

I finished up March for the Year of Celebrations project...

March WIPocalypse was the last Sunday of the month. Head over here to the check in post for this SAL. The idea of this SAL is to stitch all our WIPs before the end of the world. Can we do it? Not if we continue starting new pieces haha. I like to look back and see what I've accomplished during the time and how many days on each piece.

I've had a horrible stitching month. I've added 4 days since the last time. Here it was last time...

I finished off those last two bottles...

Then I was able to get a tiny bit added to the last shelf...

I only worked on one another piece and that was the 3 days on the March piece above. I've had a whopping 19 non stitching days already. 

We did have a fantastic weekend away this past weekend. We went down to our cabin Friday. The drove up to a big casino we have enjoyed visiting. We met up with several friends and had a fantastic night Saturday. Jeremiah and I came home ahead. Fred said we evened out with his losses haha. It was a wonderful weekend away but of course didn't help with the no stitching going on. We are going down to our cabin this coming weekend for Easter and who knows if I'll find time down there during that. Oh well. I still love my stitching and love my blog friends. Just need to find more time for everything I am doing. 

I'm so far behind on blog reading too. I really hope to catch up soon. See ya later this week for an Easter blog hop.

March FFG / Gifted Gorgeousness / Monday Update

 No surprise guess what.....I'm really far behind. From Sunday on this week has been one thing after a million others. I'm stressed to the max but I'll be okay. I'm breathing and trying hard trust me. Anyway let's get this over with. 

Rachel I had no finishes. I was going to spend a day last week to get out my sewing machine and stuff. Then I also knew I hadn't stitch in a week that day. So I knew I could say first time that 7 days I finally got to stitch and you all would understand. So no finishing. Will be back at it soon hopefully. 

Stop over to Rachel's blog to see how others did better than me hopefully.

Gifted Gorgeousness. Link up here. Still working on 99 Bottles for my hubby. It looks finished but there is another shelf. The last shelf! Wohoo...

 I was able to stitch on it..... Tuesday and Thursday. Yep that's it. My poor time is just POOF gone. Then Saturday I got stitching time. I went to pick up 99 and was just SICK of it haha. So Beer Dragon came out to play again. This will be for my hubby as well. Can you tell he loves beer haha. I finished the column I was working on. Love this one...

That's it. Sunday I lost my mind. So hubby and me went for a nice walk. It didn't help. Still lost my mind...missed my Monday update. Tuesday....wait I had Tuesday. Yep here it is Thursday. But it's IHSW. I will stitch this weekend!!! I need to get my 10k steps in tomorrow and then I'm on strike. Well mostly. But I really hope to STITCH. Not on 99 haha. I want to start the March Year of Celebrations piece. 

As you can tell I'm still trying to figure out how to split my time. Just can't get a handle on it. But I've talked to a lot of friends that this week was just out of control. The earth must have tilted or something. We got our winter decorations half put away too. So that took a lot of time. I swear I don't know which way is up any more. 

Have a great weekend. If you join in IHSW I hope you find a lot of time. I'll talk the boys into a gaming marathon so I can stay up late haha. See ya Monday....Hopefully!!

Monday Update

I know it's the start of a new week. I know it's Monday but this update is going to suck. I literally got one day of stitching last week. Wow. 31 minutes added to 99 Bottles. Not even enough to brag about.

I was busy working out. Then we went to the cabin for the weekend for hubby's birthday. It was a very needed relaxing weekend. I miss stitching though. I really need to figure out my time better. I'm trying. Last week just was a bad example. 

Have a great week. Love yourself. I hope I have a lot more stitching chances. Believe me I'll try.

February WIPocalypse

The last Sunday of the month *cough* or as soon you can it's time a fun blog event. WIPocalypse. What is that? An excuse to stitch all our WIPs before the End of the World. We can do it right? Not if like me we keep starting new things haha. Oh well. We will keep the world from ending right? Yes we will!!

Head here to the check in post to see what others have posted about.

I like to use this SAL as an excuse to keep track of my time spent. I will share my projects I've worked on since the last update. Fun way to recap my stitching.

So what have I worked on since January 31st?

Bloody Mary Dragon -- 3 Days. I had just a little bit of the first page to finish off...

99 Bottles -- 28 Days for the LovetoStitch challenge. I had 74 Bottles and now I'm on 87 and 88.

So close to finished with the 8th shelf and then on to my last shelf!!

Beer Dragon -- Got a little bit added in 1 Day. Just finished up the section of 200 I was working on...

February Year of Celebrations -- 5 Days to Finish this one off...

 

We also get fun questions we can answer if we would like to. Question of the Month: What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year? The ones I participate are listed on my right hand side bar. The Fully Finished Gallery -- to push me to finish my older pieces. IHSW -- 3rd full weekend each month. Nice excuse to ignore everything and stitch! WIPocalypse -- Um that's why you're here haha. Smalls SAL -- My last post. Gifted Gorgeousness -- Share things we have received as a gift or are making for a gift. People's Choice -- Make a post about a theme we get assigned. That's it. I think haha. See ya next check in. Hopefully on time.

Monday Update

 Boy it's been a busy day. But I'm here for a Monday Update. I will be back tomorrow for a Smalls SAL and a WIPocalypse update hopefully. I need more time haha. 

So last week was the last week of February. Wow! I still working on 99 Bottles every day. I successfully fit it in every day of February. I made it from bottle 74 to bottle 87. Not bad at all! Here is my last day check in post working on the last two bottles for the 8th shelf...

I'm hoping to work on it at least 30 minutes a day until it's finished. Friday I finally got some extra time to work on Bloody Mary Dragon again. I really wanted to finish the first page. Almost. Took some time on Saturday and then it was finally finished...

If you look very close there are a few colors but nothing special. The dragon will finally make a start to appear at the end of the 2nd page I think. Love working on it though. After finishing this page I heard a scream from Beer Dragon. Poor guy has been ignored. I only got 1 hour though and it wasn't a tiny bit of progress. So I'll wait to share that with you guys. Trust me. It's little haha. I was too hooked on Dexter. I finished the series and the last one I was watching too closely to even stitch. I heard they are bringing it back for 10 episodes this fall and ohhhh I can't wait now.

Have a great week! Love yourself. Love each other. Find a reason to smile.

Monday Update

 Another Monday. Boy as always this year is already flying by. Already 22 days into February. I worked on 99 Bottles every day last week for the Love2Stitch challenge...

I'm on Bottle 85 now. Moving along. Slowly but progress is being made. Last Monday I was on Bottle 82. 

Over the weekend it was IHSW. I worked on February from Year of Celebrations...

(4) February 21st

February from A Year of Celebrations

From Hands on Design

Stitched on 32ct Lambswool Evenweave

Threads are Suggested DMC

Started Feb 5th. Took 5 Days.

Total Time 9 Hours 38 Minutes

Just like January I really enjoyed the stitch. It went pretty quickly too. So that's nice. Have a great week. Love yourself. Hope we all find time to stitch. I'll be working on 99 and who knows what else haha.

Monday Update / February Gifted Gorgeousness

 Well it's Monday and it's the 15th. So I'll do my Monday update mixed in with the Gifted Gorgeousness Update. The lovely Jo has setup this wonderful blog SAL for us to share anything with the theme of gift. A gift for someone or from someone. Head over to the link up to see what others have shared this month. This last week all I've worked on is a gift for my hubby. 99 Bottles from Ink Circles. I'm working on it for the LovetoStitch2021 challenge so got at least 30 minutes every day. Sunday I got a little over an hour in on it. I'm on the 82nd bottle now! Here is yesterday's photo...

Slowly but surely. This is all I've worked on in February that counted for the gift theme. In January after the 15th. I finished up Winter Time which was a gift from Janet from Janet's Jabber...

Then I've also made some progress on Bloody Mary Dragon which was a gift from my husband for Christmas this past year. Oh I can't wait to get back to this one too...

So close to finishing up that first page.

Other than my stitching I have an interesting thing to share for my Monday update. Thursday I was exercising and kicked my husband's couch...

I think I broke my pinky toe on my left foot. Jeremiah was sitting near me and we heard the loud crack when it hit the leg of the couch. Poor little toe turned beautiful shades of purple and black. It got so swollen. It's doing better today. Still hurts but not as sore. I joked with everyone about when I was just sitting around day I didn't do this kind of things. Getting healthy is trying to kill me haha. What a dork. My depth perception has always been horrible. Main reason I don't drive. If I can't keep myself from hitting things with my own body can you imagine me in a vehicle? 

We had a very nice weekend at the cabin just relaxing and watching movies. Now we are getting snow and snow. It's sure beautiful. I'm very thankful I don't have to go out. I'll just stay in and try to stay away from couches and other hard things haha.

Have a great week. Love yourself. Love each other. Stay safe. Smile.

Monday Update

 Hey quick update tonight because I really want to get to stitching. The February love to stitch challenge is helping me to make sure I stitch every day. I've been working on 99 Bottles every day for the challenge. At least a half hour. Some days though I've spent more time on it just to make even more progress. Here it was last time I showed the project...

74 bottles. Really the 74th bottle wasn't finished this that photo. I finished the 7th shelf now and added a few more bottles...

 

So 79 bottles stitched now. I also put a few hours worth of stitching into my February piece from the Year of Celebrations...

Have a great week. Love yourself. Smile. Hope we all find time for ourselves. I'm looking forward to the weekend. Fred and me are sneaking off to our cabin.

Monday Update

Hello it's another Monday. Let's see what I've been up to the last week. Monday and Tuesday I was busy busy so no stitching was done. I was going through my stash to get everything organized and ready to go. Wednesday I got a teeny tiny 28 minute start on the Sept Fairy. So no photo.

Thursday for the big Countdown to 2021 I worked on 99 Bottles of Beer. I added one bottle and most of the 2nd one while watching a lot of Dexter on DVD...

The boys had a nice evening playing video games together. It was a very nice night. Friday Fred had the day off work. We got a lovely ice storm but since we put it off we went out to get groceries. The lady said the day before was PACKED so I was glad we went out in the ice to get our groceries instead. I got started on the January piece from Year of Celebrations. I've worked on it for 3 days now. Here is my progress...

So far it's stitching up fast. Plus I really enjoy it so that's nice to know for the rest of the year hopefully. Stitching them on 32ct lambswool evenweave again for those who would like to know. DMC threads.

I also had a nice package show up in the mail. Remember the Witchy Stitchy challenge. I stitched a half hour a day every day in October. I won an adorable little needleminder. Well you also get free shipping. So might as well take advantage...plus support a stitching shop...so I ordered some things to come with my free cutie...

The little witch ghost is the freebie. The two frogs just had to follow him to scare off frogs from my stitching. I ordered a fat quarter of 32ct lambswool evenweave for some more of the year of celebrations. Then this cute pattern was in the close outs section...

Flag Box from Shepard's Bush. It's a complete kit other than the box. 

One day I let stress find me and knock me down. But I'm okay now. I picked myself up and brushed off. Sometime circumstances are just beyond our control aren't they? I had a great work out today and boy I'm proud of myself. So readers. Have a great week! Smile. Love yourself. Take care of yourself.  I have a lot of things I would like to do this week. So here's hoping. Find time to do what you want to do.

Monday Update - Naughty New Start 2

 Hi everyone. So lots to talk about. Tuesday I finished up the Thanksgiving Heart...

I LOVE the way it turned out. Yes I ordered two from Ebay so shush haha. Now to find time to drag out the sewing machine to finish it before Thanksgiving. After finishing that up I pulled out 99 Bottles. I told Fred it won't be done by Christmas like I wanted. I'm now hoping to have it done by his birthday March 5th. We'll see. Anyway. I added two new bottles. Here it is now...

Then I cheated...after reading the other participants of the Naughty November SAL I realized I could start my new start whatever day I wanted to. Besides I'm extra naughty so I started my new start Thursday. I knew I would have a busy weekend. So Thursday Jeremiah picked Lizzie Kate Peppermint Sleds. Mom picked the sled with the peppermints for the first of this set...

I got 1 hour and 58 minutes to work on it Thursday. I didn't get to pick it up again till Sunday but after just 32 more minutes I was able to finish it off...

Fred and me headed down to our cabin Friday after he got off work. Jeremiah stayed home to have a gaming marathon. He had a blast with his friends. Fred and I had so much fun. We did only what we wanted to do and nothing we didn't want to. Those weekends are just wonderful. Saturday we went geocaching and found 20 before the rain and wind kicked in. It was a perfect relaxing recharging weekend. Definitely needed. Now I'm ready for the new week.

Have a great week. Love yourself. Love each other. Smile as much as you can. Take care of yourself.

#24HOCS April Recap and May Plans

I'm not going to be online tomorrow so I figured I better post my update now. Here is my April Recap on the 24 Hour of Cross Stitch challenges...

1st Challenge is to stitch for a total of 24 hours throughout the month. Without today's time added I've stitched 47 Hours 15 Minutes. Down from last month of 53 Hours but still definitely met the goal. Plus I haven't added in today so we'll see. I doubt I will get 6 hours today considering it's already afternoon here in Indiana haha.

2nd Challenge is the acrostic (Since I just included the photos in my WIPocalypse post I will just explain my progress)...

👍 S - Stitchonomy Critters SAL
Connection: S in Designer
Goal: Keep up

Actual: I have 4 of the parts complete and I'm happy with that.

**Today's Project** U - Winter Time
Connection: Unending Season
Goal: At least 24 minutes

👍 N - NeedleCraft Exchange
Connection: N in Group Name
Goal: Finish

Goal Met Finished and Put Together

👍 & - All I need is...
WIPGO Pick #24
Connection: Love & a Dog
Goal: At least 2 hours

Actual: 2 Hours 24 Minutes

👍 S - Pizza Slice MH
WIPGO Pick #18
Connection: Slice of Pizza
Goal: Finish?

Actual: Didn't finish but started so happy with that.

👎 H - Happy Camper MH
WIPGO Pick #25
Connection: H in Title
Goal: Finish?

Didn't Start. Moved to my Mill Hill Maynia Pile.

👍 A - April Fairy
Connection: A in Title
Goal: Finish

Goal Met Finished

 👍 D - Salt Water Taffy
WIPGO Pick #11
Connection: Do More on this WIP
Goal: At least 2 Hours 

Actual 3 Hours 1 Minute

 

👍 O - 99 Bottles
Connection: Oats in Beer
Goal: 4 Bottles

 Met this goal yesterday. Here are the new April 4 bottles...

32 more bottles now. Still on my way to complete it in December.

👍 W - (Was Wish Upon a Starfish) now Beer Dragon
Connection: Want to Stitch On
Goal: At least 24 Minutes 

Actual: 3 Hours 48 Minutes

 

So one goal not met and I'm really happy with that. 

 

3rd Challenge is a fun one. Jen gives us a list of daily fun/weird/crazy national holidays. We are to stretch our stitching into fitting 12 of the holidays. This is really fun to try to come up with. So here are my thoughts. What do you think?

 

1st -- National Walking Day -- All I need is... Love & a Dog -- Dogs love to go on walks with their owners.

 

3rd -- World Party Day -- 99 Bottles -- Most parties have beer right?

 

7th -- No Housework Day -- Easter Freebie -- Easter is a good excuse to not do any housework since it's a holiday.

 

8th -- Draw a Picture of a Bird Day -- Stitchonomy Colorful Critters SAL -- I've stitched 4 parts on this one and it's bugs so far. Birds love to eat bugs.

 

11th -- Barbershop Quartet Day -- Salt Water Taffy -- Okay follow me on this one...My Grandpa Faust loved Salt Water Taffy. He always had us get him some when we seen it on vacation. He also was a fantastic Barbershop singer. So it works!

 

14th Look up at the Sky Day -- April Fairy -- It's raining and I love to look up to the sky to watch the rain falling. (5 Hours Worth)

 

15th World Art Day -- Beer Dragon -- The artwork for the Beer Dragon is done by Stanley Morrison. I've really enjoyed following his other art that he has created as well because of this pattern. 

 

16th National Stress Awareness Day -- Wintertime -- Winter is always laid back and relaxing for me. I love watching the snow and just enjoying the cooler days. 

 

19th National Garlic Day -- Pizza Slice -- A lot of people including my husband love Garlic on their pizza.

 

20th Look Alike Day -- Stitchonomy Colorful Critters SAL -- A lot of bugs look alike but when you investigate they are actually a lot different.

 

27th Tell a Story Day --  April Fairy -- I love fairy tales with magical creatures in the stories. (5 Hours Worth)

29th Greenery Day -- Stitchonomy Colorful Critters SAL -- Bugs love to crawl around on plants and stems.

I hope you understand my connections. That's part of the fun haha.

 

For May I'm going to do things a little different. 3 Challenges again.

 

1st Challenge Stitch 24 Hours Throughout the month. Yep Challenge Accepted!

 

2nd Challenge Acrostic - Letters for May - HOURGLASS. I've only picked a few ahead. They are listed on the right hand side of my blog. I will be filling this in as I go. Instead of picking ahead of time. I really want to just have fun this month and wing it a little bit more than I've done for a few months. No real forced plans other than 4 bottles on 99, May Fairy, and some more parts on the Critters SAL. Beer Dragon I have a feeling will be back out again. He is screaming a lot lately. Plus my Mill Hill Maynia has 11 chances of different pieces that might fit in the acrostic. 

 

3rd Challenge is the fun holidays. I'll come up with them afterward too. 

 

Have a great May to all those participating in the challenges and the Stitch Maynia fun. I look forward to seeing what this month brings to all of us.

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?