Day 1 of Longest Hermit Weekend Marathon

Instead of making you all wait till Monday I decided to do a quick post about my Day 1. I realized mostly there would be way too many photos for just one post. So let's see how my Friday went during my Longest Day SAL merged with IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend).

I quickly caught up on my morning computer stuff. Quickly responded to some emails. Scanned to see if anything important needed looked at. Mom was first to pick. She picked out Free to Be Me. I was really excited to work on this one again.

Before Pic:

I had started this one for the Debbie's Ultimate January Challenge in 2016. Where I started a piece for every day in January that year. Goal: Finish the blue section and the top red section beside it.
Start Time 9:08am End Time 11:30am

I really had a hard time putting this one down. I wanted to make more progress. Exactly why I set the goal.

Jeremiah picked a paper now. Spring Bell Pull by Stoney Creek Magazine.
Before Pic:

Goal: Finish the Dragonfly on the right hand side. Start time 11:54am Took a lunch break 12:15pm. Back 12:45pm Finished 3:03pm...

A lot of color changes in that little dragonfly. Didn't think it would ever be finished haha.

Mom picked again. This time it was To the Beach Freebie from Hands on Designs. Before Pic..

Small Goal this time finish the E. Started 3:20 Finished 3:30...

Jeremiah picked Halloween Mini's. Another I'm always excited to work on. Before Pic...

Working on the Vampire Face. Goal finish the light gray symbol you can tell is missing from the right hand side. Plus do the check mark symbol which is a very light gray throughout the piece. Started 4:00 Stopped 4:30 for dinner break back 5:00 Finished 8:30...

Check mark symbol really filled in the design.

Mom picked again. Evergreen Snowman a Mill Hill kit. Before pic...

I started this one for the Longest Day SAL in 2017. Goal this time 30 minutes. Started 9pm Ended 9:30pm...

Last pick for the day was picked by mom again. Dream of the Sea. Working on the last part of this set of 4. Before pic...

Honestly I wasn't excited about picking this one up. I really hate stitching on linen. Of course the kit came with linen. I got it ready and started at 10:00. Goal to work on it till my eyes told me I was done for the day. 11:30 my eyes so Okay time. My needle was sad to go to sleep. I really am so happy with my progress on this one...

I would have been happy with just finishing the words. Proof that sometimes a push is all I need to work on something.

I also watched 14 shows. One of the biggest amount of shows I watched was Riverdale. Almost finished with the latest season. Just a few more to watch today. So weird to see Luke Perry again since he has now passed away. He was a great actor.

Okay enough chatting. I need to get busy. Can't wait to see what I work on today. Have a great day! See ya tomorrow morning.

February WIPocalypse

Today is the last Sunday of the month which means it's time for a WIPocalypse update. Measi setup this fun blog SAL so we can all finish our WIPs before the end of the world. I doubt that will ever happen especially with all the new things we keep adding to our lists haha. I like using this SAL as an excuse to keep track of what I've worked on and how many days on each project. So let's see what I've been working on since the last update...

Dream of the Sea Set -- 2 Days. Last update I had finished up 3 of the pieces from this set...

I have a 2 day start on the tray which is in the upper left on this above photo. Here it is after the 2 days of stitching...

4 Seasons Winter -- 3 Days. Last time this one was here after the first 2 days of progress...

Here is it now after 5 days in...

Nautical Year -- 3 Days. Started and finished up the Feb design...

Valentine Freebie -- 2 Days. Started and finish up this little freebie for the Valentine blog hop...

Lizzie Kate Flip-Its Stamps -- 6 Days. Started and finished up the Feb design...

Beer Dragon -- 3 Days. Here it was last time...

Here it is now...

Ocean in a Bottle -- 7 Days. Please come back tomorrow for an update on this one. I will include it in my Monday update.

Also with our check in's we get fun questions each month. Let's see what the question is this time...
Question of the Month: What do you listen to while stitching? I am a TV addict. I can't even tell you how many shows I just HAVE to watch each week. I'm always so far behind and thankful to my DVR that it can hold them till I do have time. So I'm always listening to a TV show in the background. Sometimes if they are really good I look up too much and slow down but most the time I can understand enough just listening.

See ya next check in to see what I've been working on till then.

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!!

January WIPocalypse

It's the last Sunday of the month. This means it's time for a WIPocalypse update. The idea of this blog SAL is to finish all our WIPs before the end of the world. I started the year with a list of 71 WIPs in my two totes. My goal is to finish as many as I can.

I like to use this SAL as an excuse to keep track of what I work on each day. I make a note of the project in a weekly planner. Then I can look back and see what I've been working on since the last update. So let's get to it. Let's see what I've been working on since the beginning of the year...

Dragon Eye -- 3 Days. This was my New Year New Start. I have 1,000 stitches in now...

Nautical Year -- 3 Days. Started and finished the January piece...

4 Seasons Winter -- 2 Days. Started this Erica Michaels tiny silk gauze piece...

Lizzie Kate Flip-Its Stamp -- 4 Days. Started and finished the January piece...

Wish Upon a Starfish -- 1 Day. Got another day into this one. Here is where I an now...

Sea Turtle Mill Hill -- 1 Day. Got this one finished up after one more day of work...

Cabin Fever Mill Hill -- 2 Days. Put 2 more days of work into this one. Here it was before ...

Here it is now...

Salt Water Taffy -- 4 Days. Brought back out this old WIP. Here it was before...

Here it is now after the January IHSW...

Beer Dragon -- 3 Days. Here this one was before...

I had just finished page 1. I got 600 new stitched added in the 3 days...

Dream of the Sea Set -- 3 Days. This set begged to be back out too. I finished up the pin cushion with 1 more day of work. The other 2 days I was able to start and finish up the spool piece. Here are the two pieces...

I will talk more about these on my Monday update so pop back tomorrow for that if interested.

Like I've said many times I love the winter months. Lazy stitching filled days. I haven't missed 1 day of stitching since the beginning of the year. I've had so much fun working on so many different pieces. It's been wonderful. My needles are just flying.

Measi also gives us questions each check in. The question this time is: January 27 – What SAL’s are you participating in this year? I've already talked about this. Pop over to this post to see more. I also have them added to my side bar. I feel very motivated so far this year and I'm having a lot of fun with my love of cross stitching. I sure hope this motivation sticks around.

So what have you been working on?

September WIPocalypse

Boy this year has just flew by. What a fun year but I keep forgetting my sign in posts for my blog SALs. Sunday was supposed to be the WIPocalypse check in post. I meant to do it Monday morning. Here it is Wednesday haha. I keep blinking and missing days I guess. Let's get to it...

WIPocalypse is a fun SAL that I joined in a few years ago. It's a fun SAL to stitch all our projects before the apocalypse happens. I like to use it as an excuse to keep track of what I've worked on since the last WIPocalypse post and how many days I've spent on each project. The goal of course is to have finishes to celebrate. Of course with me I tend to have a bunch of new starts and no finishes haha.

My last post was in July. It was a sad check in. Since we've been traveling so much this year my stitching has sure suffered. But the memories we've been making are priceless so I wouldn't miss them for anything even my stitching. Let's see what I've been working on since July 31st.

Under the Sea SAL -- 4 Days. I started and finished up the May section...finally haha.

Two cute seahorses were added for May. Here is the whole piece now...

I have 14 Days into this one now.

Spring Bell Pull -- 5 Days. I've been working on the I block. Here it was before with 3 days of progress on the I block...

Here it is now with 8 days of progress...

Here is the whole piece...

With 32 days total. So close to a finish on the I block as you can see.

Flock Together by Hands on Design 2 Days. I take this one on vacation and try to work on it. So here and there it's getting progress. Here is what it looks like now after 4 days of work total...

Dream of the Sea Beach Club Kit -- 2 Days. I worked more on the pincushion. Here is my progress after 4 days total...

Here is a reminder of what the whole set looks like...

I've already finished the bottom right piece. This is the top right piece that I'm working on now.

June Snapshot -- 6 Days. I started on June finally. Here is where I was able to get to so far...

Halloween Mini's by Artecy -- 1 Day. I felt like doing something Halloween so I got a start on the Skeleton Face from this set...

Here is my start on it...

Unfortunately I've not worked on the Family Crest in this span. I feel so guilty about that. Hopefully I will fall back in love with it soon. I just needed a break. As you can see I've been bouncing around and just enjoying my stitching when I do have time. I've had 38 days of no stitching at all. So my time is still pretty crazy busy. We've had a wonderful vacation and 2 camping trips since July 31st also.

Next check in October 29th. Here's hoping I actually remember to post for it.