Apr 29th Monday Update

Hello to my readers so few they are haha. Time for a Monday update. WIPocalypse was yesterday but let's talk about details of what I did last week.

Monday -- No stitching time. Computer catch up and Groceries stole the day.

Tuesday -- Worked on Spring Line Up by The Trilogy. I want to finish this by June 1st if I can for a challenge I'm in. But we'll see....no pressure. I added 441...

I just love this one. Every row is exciting and fun to stitch. I will work it in so I can finish it up. I think it's going to come up today and tomorrow too. 

Wednesday -- April 23rd Semi Sane (a Facebook stitching challenge group I really enjoy) released a pop up challenge. In honor of National Book Day we needed to put 300 stitches in a piece by 4pm EST on the 25th that you can relate to a book, whether it shows a book, or the theme or motifs can be related to a book. Right away I knew I had the perfect WIP...

Book Dragon from Paine Free Crafts. So I added 304 and posted at 1:05 EST on the 25th...

Thursday -- After finishing up the stitches for that challenge I worked on the Mermaid Biscornu by Tiny Modernist. It was the last one I needed to finish my acrostic challenges for the month...

Friday -- Jeremiah's 26th birthday!!! I can't believe he is 26! He can't believe it either. He got a new game for his Xbox and we planned to eat out Saturday. So we just relaxed and enjoyed the day. I decided a new start was called to celebrate the day haha. Good excuse huh?

Patriotic Gnome Littles by Waxing Moon Designs. I also have the Christmas set like this. These are just too cute. I seen them at my LNS when I visited in March for the stitch day. I couldn't remember if I had them so I waited to check. Nope I was thinking of the Christmas ones. So I planned to look next time I went to the store. April stitch day the one chart was still sitting there waiting for me. So I grabbed it up. Meant to be if you ask me haha. I bought a piece of 32ct Platinum Belfast (Yep Linen!) to stitch them on. I am doing them individual like pictured but stitching them on the same piece so I don't waste so much fabric. 

Jeremiah picked the middle top one first. He was called Fireworks Gnome. I got 822 added on Friday. He went quickly and was a lot of fun to work on.....like everything right now. I'm so in love with stitching....Saturday we had a fun day so no stitching....Sunday I got back to work on him and added 325 more stitches and finished him...

Just love him so much! Can't wait to stitch the others. I really enjoyed the linen too so funny how our tastes change. 

Saturday we went to a new restaurant that opened beginning of April here in town. They have a food truck that is Viking themed. Jeremiah loves Viking so we checked it out. Still really new but the food was delicious. I hope they can stop open. The Hungry Heathen. We also got haircuts which felt fantastic. I always wait till my hair is driving me nuts haha. Then we came back and picked up Spike. We ran into Marion a larger town about 18 mins away. I ran into hobby lobby (with my eyes closed) Jeremiah wanted some frames...

When we attend the wrestling convention we get all the signatures on the poster we get with our tickets. Luckily they had the perfect frames for like $4 so I grabbed two. One for each year. Now I catch Jeremiah just staring at the awesome signatures. We've had them in a tub so they didn't get ruined. Better to have them displayed! We went to a huge dog park and Spike got to run. Stopped a few other places and came home to watch movies. It was lovely day together. 

Sunday Dad, Bev, and a few others stopped over to visit. She did not have any complications while in the hospital this round. She was released Saturday. Last time it was 4 - 8 days later so my dad is worried sick about what this week will bring. But we are keeping positive that maybe it didn't cause difficulties this time around. Guess we'll wait and see.

I had to stop typing and run out to get the mail....happy mail....

This package sure had a journey. I ordered from a stitching store in Laporte, Indiana on the 18th of April. Supposed to come April 24th. It went from Laporte to Elk Grove, Illinois. Then to Indianapolis, Indiana. Then to Saint Paul, Minnesota?!?! Then it was just in transit for several days so I was really worried it was lost. Then back to Indianapolis. To Kokomo. Finally here today haha. I guess at least it arrived safely. Two planned new May starts so glad it finally showed up. LOL

Okay well have a great week. May is Wednesday and I will have a new start. Every Wednesday in May. Wohoo! I have two other new starts to sneak in sometime. One was a planned new start from my 12 monthly mixed bag I picked. Love yourself. Find lots of reasons to smile.

Jan 1st Monday Update

 Happy New Year Readers. Wonder what the new year will bring. It's sure my most planned stitching year. I have 3 new planners to keep track of all my fun goals and challenges. I'm in 3 Facebook groups now for stitching challenges and I love them!!! It's been a lot of fun setting it all up. But first Monday's I like to do a Monday Update. This is a look back at what I stitched in the last week.

I decided to push to see if I could finish the WIP Wrangler Challenge. (Sneak Peek....I did!!)

Monday I enjoyed Christmas and didn't get any X's in.

Tuesday I worked on Christmas Celebrations from Frosted Pumpkin. It sure got a lot of progress this month...

Start of the month

Now after 2,391 stitches this month

Wednesday 2 projects.

Book Dragon for Roll 29. Needed 250...

Best Friend Santa Mill Hill needed 150... 

Thursday 4 projects.

Christmas Truck needed 75...

Book Dragon was rolled again. Needed 50...

Simple Treasures was finally rolled. Needed 250...

Owl Gnome was rolled for 150. I did 185 and finished all the white thread on the key. Picture in a moment.

Friday we went to visit Bev and hang out with my dad. Plus a stop for groceries. So it was a long day and no stitching.

Saturday 2 projects.

Hedgehogs in the Snow by Stoney Creek needed 200. I finished up the first hedgehog...

Owl Gnome needed 75 more. But I did 229 and finished the 2nd thread on the key...

White and Off white is complete now.

Sunday my last 2 rolls.

Simple Treasures needed 100...

I changed where I was working on it for some variety. It was a nice change of area.

Last roll was Grow Together an old HAED WIP. I needed 250. I did 356 to finish the columns I was working on. The first 2 columns on the first page...

So that completed WIP Wranglers...

So I successfully completed both large challenges I signed up for in December. 

I will be back tomorrow for my recap for 2023. I'm off to enjoy the first day of 2024 and a new start.

Sept 25th Monday Update

Another fun challenge week with the Go Stitch Challenge. This has been a fantastic challenge for me. I've enjoyed it very much. Let's see what stitching I did last week...

Monday -- Day 18 Letter G. Grow Together HAED 200 needed ...

Tuesday - Day 19 Letter H Jeremiah picked Halloween Minis from Artecy...

You can see in the photo with all of them I was close to finished with Ice Monster. After 534 stitches it was finished. Now just the cat and cauldron left. The other 3 I just don't care for bat, scarecrow, and grave stone. I didn't like the cauldron and Jeremiah convince me it was kind of cute haha. 

Wednesday -- Day 20 Letter X. Go Stitch Day needed 400...

I decided to finish up Wish Upon a Starfish first...

216 stitches finished it up. I am so happy to have this one finished. I started it in 2015! Of course I only worked on it 21 days. I would put it down and completely forget about it. 

The rest of Day 20 I put stitches in Book Dragon...

195 stitches added brought my total for the day 411 so Day 20 was complete.

Thursday - Day 21 Letter Wild. Minimum stitches on any choice. I went back to Country Life from the Just Cross Stitch Magazine...

Added 219 for Thursday

Friday - Day 22 Letter J. Wow no J for me. So 400 stitch day. Back to Country Life already on Q-Snaps...

638 added.....another close finish

Saturday and Sunday no stitching. Letters....B and D were called. I have WIPs for both so that's awesome. Just 400 stitches to make up. Today is T which I get to start a new piece for. Why no stitching this weekend?

We've been working hard and finally Sunday was our last trip to the house. We got the rest of the stuff we needed out and let the rest go. Fred has to stop and get a few things that he can pick up easily after work. Our poor little truck just couldn't haul any more in one load. It was full. But Jeremiah and I said Goodbye. It was hard. Tears were shed. 15 years here. 15 years worth of memories. We are ready to move on with our lives. We are ready to change some things drastically. We are changing things drastically. I learned a lot finally. No more hoarding. No more getting more things that we just don't need. Cherish the things you have don't get more and more and more. I am so curious to see what the auction will bring. If the company knows what they are doing it should be great. Honestly though I'm so thankful they are doing the rest. They will clean out the trash. Clean out the stuff for sale. Do the sale. I'm so so thankful. Yesterday I was just done and disgusted with how I let stuff overtake my health. Everywhere. Stuff. Junk. Just never going to live like that again. Anyway I am healing now. Our poor storage shed door barely closed. We need to get in there and sort everything. My crafts is spread into box and box after box. So I will definitely be organizing everything better. We luckily found a lot of containers and tubs to store stuff in. Now we can breath and take our time with that. No rush. No pressure. Just getting the storage shed better haha. 

 

Love yourself. Breath. Hug your loved ones. Smile. I'm off to stitch and catch up. Have a wonderful fantastic week.

August 28th Monday Update

Hello my lovely readers. Let's see what stitching I got done last week...

Monday I actually worked on my Mill Hill Monday piece Camping Out...

Finished the bear section lower right. 2 sections left now. Wohoo!!

Tuesday and Wednesday I worked on Simple Treasures...

Thursday was Book Dragon day...

Friday and Sunday was back to Summer Gnome...

Tuesday I took a day off of everything and stitched my little heart off haha. It was the first day of using my new stitch counter...

I got it for $7.99 on Amazon. Does exactly what I need it to do. It was very easy to get used to. When I move the magnet to move to the next row of stitches bump up the number of steps. Easy Peasy. I had no problem remembering luckily. So no worries about getting use to it. Let's see for fun.

Tuesday - 582 stitches....great day! Wednesday - 175 stitches. Thursday - 478 stitches. Friday - 371 stitches. Sunday - 244 stitches. 1,850 counted stitches. I didn't count Monday. So it will be fun to keep track now plus I can join in the counting challenges finally.

Here in Indiana we broke some heat records last week. Yuck. Today the windows are open and gentle cool breeze is blowing. Who knows what our weather will be haha. Supposed to be hot again later this week. I'm really ready for Fall and Winter haha. 

My WIP tab is all organized at the top. I had it down to 36 WIPs but couldn't leave it there so added the 4 to get to 40 haha. Needed a rounded number. I know I could easily get it to 50 but I'm leaving it there at 40 for now haha. I know one thing. I am in love with my stitching again completely. After looking through it all I'm excited about any stitching time. I just love stitching on this and that and this again nope that. I am just happy. 

We have a big camping weekend coming up. My step mom has a lot of family over for the Labor Day Holiday. Not a lot of stitching time but I am going to try to steal some. A big fun challenge from the Facebook Semi Sane Group is starting on the first called Go Fish. It's my first real different challenge. One letter of the alphabet will be called each day by like 9am. If you have a chart titled with that letter you stitch 200 stitches on it. If not you yell Go Fish and stitch 400 stitches on any WIP of your choice. I'm really looking forward to it. Entries into a drawing every time you complete the daily challenge. I haven't heard some rules. I did hear no time limit. I would assume by the end of the month maybe? I don't know for sure yet. 

Lastly I will leave you with this adorable photo of Spike. One day Jeremiah was brushing his teeth and for some reason Spike decided he needed his support. So Spike is "helping". 2 years ago today is when we went to pick him out. We didn't get him right away. They kept him a few days to do the fix and let him heal. Boy we are so lucky we found him...

Love yourself. Smile. Find your happiness. Stitch! See ya next time.

August 21st Monday Update

I survived the week of moving. First let's see what little stitching I got done...

Mill Hill Monday was a bust so moved it to Tuesday again...

Progress on the lower right section where the bear button goes. I'm trying not to rush it but I'm excited for the finish on this one. I wonder which one I'll pick next. I will probably have to let Jeremiah pick. I have them all into one container now. Trust me....lots of choices!!

Wednesday and Sunday was the only one time I got more stitching time. I worked on Book Dragon. I finished the first page and started the 2nd page...

That's it last week for stitching. Moving Moving Moving. I have never really heard anyone talk nice about moving. Especially when majorly downsizing. I was so exhausted every day. The choices of what to keep are coming a lot easier than I expected though at least. I'm ready to have it off my shoulders. Friday Jeremiah went with us for the first time. It was hard for him but he said it helped a lot. He saw the house only one time since mom passed away so he was really worried about going but he wanted to say Goodbye. He moved into that house at 9 and he's 25 now. I talked to him on video chat so he would see how empty the house is. It's crazy. It's like a shell of an old home. No love. Just empty. He explained it perfectly ....Grandma is not there any more. She's gone and we have her with us she's not in these walls anymore. So the house feels just different. Not ours anymore. We were very happy to get home to our happy place where we fill the place with love and new memories of our life everyday. We love living here and being in the country. All those million dollar houses on top of each other is just crazy. Give us corn fields anytime haha.We've changed so much. 

Friday we got a lot of large furniture pieces that  meant a lot to me so that felt fantastic. My grandfather had built me a bookcase, converted a singer into a beautiful table, and a hope chest. They are all safe in our storage unit now. It was a roller coaster of emotions all week. Severe storms made us cut our day short Thursday as we hurried to get home for Jeremiah (of course we arrived after they were over luckily nothing severe here just heavy rain and wind). So we were so disappointed in how much we got done several times. But looking at what's left we are probably well over half way done. So I think we did better than I thought.

We are going back after Labor day on the weekends to finish it off. Until then hopefully rest up. This week we have record breaking heat so I'm hoping to curl up with my stitching.

Speaking of that I have been going through everything!!! Time to reassess what I want in my WIP tote and what I can let sit aside. So far I've found homes for what I want here and the rest will be a short drive to storage away. I have one tote of WIPs here and the threads needed. I will be updating my Goals tab at the top soon. Anyway here's some of the moving photos...

We have 4 dressers, a washer and dryer, and some other stuff still to come down. Then we will restack and organize it all. I believe it will fit at least. I was worried at the beginning. I have definitely downsized well. Hubby said he was shocked at how well I've done with that part haha. He knows I'm very sentimental but realistically the memories will never leave me just the item. No reason to take up space I don't have anymore. 

Okay I'm off to fix my goals tab. Have a great week. Stay cool if you are in the heat like us. Love yourself. Smile.