Nov 25th Monday Update

 I know I did my WIPocalypse post yesterday but it's Monday so let's talk a little more details about my week last week.

Monday was a no stitching day. Computer work and groceries stole the day.

Tuesday I started my monthly picked new start. Love USA from Hinzeit. Wednesday it was finished. Took 1,073 stitches and just two days to do up.

Thursday I pulled out another new start but it was supposed to be started in October. Another Erica Michael's adorable silk gauze piece called Heart & Compass. I worked on it Thursday and Friday. Added 644 total game stitches. 1,288 little / stitches...

Reminder of what it will look like...

Saturday I got the ick that is going around. Coughs from my toes and slept pretty much all day. Sunday I was still pretty icky but at least got a little bit of stitching added to The Pirate by Cottage Garden...

Just 200 added but better than nothing. Fred has this week off to deer hunt. We have two in the freezer now. My dad and Uncle have got one each. Hopefully Fred can get one this week. Helps 3 families to have delicious meat in the freezer. So kind of a short update for today. 

Happy Turkey Day week for all those who celebrate. We are going over to my Grandma's Friday afternoon. Hopefully we are all healthy by then. Have a great week. Love yourself. Smile as much as possible.

October WIPocalypse / Monday Update

I'm going to combine my October WIPocalypse and my Monday update because I had a busy weekend and was really happy to just stitch yesterday after everyone left. WIPocalypse is a fun excuse to stitch all our WIPs before the end of the world. I like to use it as an excuse to look back on what I've worked on since the last update. How many day and how much progress on each project I've worked on. So let's see what I've been working on since Sept 29th.

Mini Block Freedom -- 1 Day. I finished this one up with just one more day which was Sept 29th after my last WIPocalypse update...

Halloween Sampler by Les Petites Croix De Lucie -- 25 Days. I used this one for a challenge this month. Trying for 100 stitches a day. I could have 5 missed days. Only 2 used now. I've really enjoyed working on this one. Yesterday I decided to focus on it and try to finish it for Halloween this year. So yesterday I got 400 added...

Owe Them All by Erica Michaels -- 8 Days. I decided to finish this one at the beginning of the month. Here it was at the beginning of the month and now finished...

Irish Blessing a Herrschners Freebie -- 1 Day. Added another day to this beautiful WIP...

Autumn Line Up by The Trilogy -- 2 Days. 676 more added to this one which will be a focus for a finish in November...

Halloween Quaker by Primrose Cottage -- 2 Days. 544 added to this one. I will work on it if I finish Halloween Sampler before Halloween...

 

Yggdrasil by Paine Free Crafts -- 1 Day.

Enchanted Pumpkin a Mill Hill Kit -- 2 Days. Added 545 for a pop up challenge Oh My Gourd where we needed 500 on a design with some kind of gourd...

This last week other than the Halloween Sampler here is what I worked on...

Beer Dragon by Paine Free Crafts -- 1 Day (Monday) Added 503...

Mason Jar Lineup a Dimensions Kit -- 2 Days. Tuesday and Wednesday Added a wonderful 800 to this fun piece that I just love working on...

Thursday my BFF showed up to camp so I just got my stitches on Halloween Sampler Thursday and Friday. Saturday I took the day off because several more friends and family showed up. We had a lovely Halloween Party and then Sunday everyone headed home. It was the last official camping weekend here. We might have stragglers stop by but not regularly like normal season. Overall it was a weird year but we had a great time. Now to get busy to Christmas season haha. Planned out our weekends till Christmas to make sure we get all our fun done in time.

Measi also gives us fun questions to answer... October 27 – How do you organize your WIPs and stash? I have a tote with all my WIPs that I'm currently working on. I have my floss boxes in a tub under Jeremiah's bed. I keep track of them on my blog in the WIP list at the top and also I use Google Keep Notes and I really like it a lot. Very easy to figure out in my opinion and makes updating info on Instagram easier and covers what I would forget otherwise. 

Have a wonderful week. Love yourself. Find reasons to smile as often as possible.

Sept 30th Monday Update - Sept and Oct Goals

 Last week of September so wrapping up Sept challenges. Let's see what I worked on...

Monday ABCingo in Monthly Magazine Challenge FB group was still going for 3 more calls. Letter R was picked for Monday. I had just started Autumn Line Up by The Trilogy and Sunday and it was still really calling me. So I stretched the R.....I am Really Ready for Fall to be here.....works haha.

Added 405 and was really happy with my progress for the day and it could go away for a bit.

Tuesday Letter T was picked so I pulled out The Mandalorian by Forbidden Fiber Co again. Got a wonderful 689 because the letters go fast since it's just one thread color...

Wednesday the last letter called was L which worked great because the last acrostic goal I had was Luck of the Irish. So two goals one project...

My goal was 200 so after adding 203 I put it away. Just added some background for the banner this time around. There was a popup bonus for a birthday. We were supposed to talk about a favorite WIP and explain why we liked it. You got points for stitching 250 stitches on it by the deadline Friday. If she picked yours as one of the top 3 WIPs you got extra points. I was really happy to see she picked mine as one of her favorites so I got max points for my team. I'm not surprised though because I used Yggdrasil from Paine Free Crafts and she has very similar tastes to me when it comes to these types of designs.

Finally finally getting close to finished with that upper left corner block...

I added 284 this time for Wednesday and Thursday.

Friday I decided to pick up my monthly planned new start Mini Block Freedom by Hinzeit. I only had the first 3 outlines done and I had the goal of finishing before the end of the month. Last night I put the last stitches in...

I put in 421 Friday and 326 Sunday. I didn't attach the charms yet because I want to get some invisible thread for that. I attached the last ones with white and don't like the way it looks. I would love to finish these two up sometime. I'm hoping to drag my sewing machine stuff all here for a few days and finish a bunch of stuff. Maybe in November. 

I also have some haul to report. There is a FB lady who buys lots of charts from stitching stores and resells them at a discount. She has a FB group called The Vintage Stitcher Shop Destash. She also has a flosstube. Anyway she had some charts available I couldn't pass up...

3 new to me Erica Michael patriotic charts and the Bee Different I fell in love with. When I looked at it after receiving I was surprised to see it's stitched on a Fabric Flair that has the beehive design on it. So that will be fun to stitch up. I just love the Bee Different idea. We sure believe in that motto.

Saturday we had a busy day so no stitching. Visited with family here and planted a new tree in Grandpa's honor that family friends gifted us. Then we went to a larger nearby town to do some errands. First we wanted to eat out a nice meal to celebrate 1 year since turning in the keys to our old house. Crazy to think it's been a year already. We ate at Olive Garden one of mom's favorite restaurants. Then we went shopping. We are attending a fancy wedding in October....I'm actually doing the officiating. So this Walmart girl needed a nice outfit. We found Jeremiah a nice undershirt and button up shirt at Burlington. Then we ran into the mall to check out Torrid. I love Torrid always have but WOW the prices always stopped me. There was a girl working and I said Please help me. She was so sweet and had a blast picking things out for me. She even one time screamed okay I love you because I was willing to try anything to look nice. They had a spot for the boys to sit. I put an outfit on and walked out laughing. Nope. I put another outfit on and honestly felt pretty. Everyone complimented me even others shopping. I tried on some other stuff with quick nopes even tried on a dress haha. Nope! So I went back to the outfit we all like and Fred said you could just tell it made me happy. I held myself high. Then she picked out a pair of shoes with a HUGE heel. HAHA nope!! But she got a lower heal and I tried it. They made me stand tall. So I grumbled at the prices and bought the outfit. It was worth it to feel extra pretty for that day. When I done checking out I asked the lady for a hug and we both started crying. I don't do pretty and boy she knew just what to do to help me out. I would definitely shop with them again. Well when I can afford it haha.

September goals were all met...

October starts tomorrow. My favorite month. My decorations are already out I just couldn't wait any longer. Spooky shows and movies galore. I joined a million challenges again haha...

I decided to do 100 a day for a fun challenge on this one...

Halloween Sampler by Les Petites Croix De Lucie. I'm doing it on 40ct White. 1 thread over 2 I think. I'll find out tomorrow haha.

Then I have a 2nd acrostic again. This new to me group Fun with Cross Stitch has a Scattergories challenge too I'm checking out. The acrostics this year are all US Capitals looks like and they also have a Aussie Capital Cities acrostic. I didn't think I needed another one though haha. I do love the acrostic type of challenges. I've stepped away from a few though. I don't want too much. Just enough to drive me crazy is enough haha. My monthly planned start for October is another Erica Michaels...

Heart & Compass is the name of this one. I have really enjoyed getting some of these charts that have long set in my stash started and I really think I will make sure to start at least one a month next year as well. What I need.....more WIPs hahaha. 

Anyway I'm off to get stuff done. Thanks for reading my rambling.

Sept 23rd Monday Update

 I've been stitching like a crazy woman all week so grab a drink and let's go through it haha.

ABCingo is still going strong. Ends Wednesday and honestly I'll miss it. But don't worry I have already found a bunch of new challenges for October haha.

Monday Letter F was called. So Forever in Peace by Sweet Wing Studio. Added 200 for Day 15 on this one now...

After hitting my monthly goal I went back to the Halloween Quaker by Primrose Cottage. Added 226 for Day 3...

Luckily B was called Tuesday so I added 522 more for Day 4. The above photo is after the two days and 748 more in the lower right corner. As I figured I love the Quaker Primrose designs.

Wednesday Letter K was called. I used this as an excuse to start a new Kit. Mason Jar Lineup by Dimensions. I was talking to Jeremiah and said I was actually nervous to start this one. I have loved this pattern for years. I finally got it. Then I purchased a gorgeous piece of fabric for it. What if I started it and just simply hated it?!? I was really nervous. I laughed after 6 stitches and said I hate it. Jeremiah said Serious? I said Nope. I'm in love. Wohoo. Remember I changed out the white Aida for 32ct Jacks Rum Belfast Linen from Fabrics by Stephanie that I found at Always in Stitches LNS. I just LOVE how it looks. I can't imagine doing these first few days of white stitching on white Aida. I honestly probably would have hated it...

Added 372 for the first day. Love it!!!

Thursday Letter V was called so I pulled out Christmas Truck which is a Vervaco Kit. I hope to work on this one more this winter. I hadn't worked on it since Feb. Added 305 for Day 5...

Friday was the start of IHSW. I had a very lazy Friday. Letter S was called so I worked on Winter SAL 2024 from Stitchonomy. Added a wonderful 648 to it...

The top photo is before and shows the material color better. I finished part 4 so just 2 parts left finally haha.

Saturday we ended up going into town to Aldis and Meijer. It was fun but took away from my stitching time haha. Letter M was called so I used it for another new start. Mini Block Freedom from Hinzeit. This was my monthly planned new start that I pick one for each month before the year started...

Fabric is 28ct New Khaki Lugana and I'm using Week Dye Works Garnet and Deep Sea. Added 254 for Day 1.

Sunday was Letter D. I put 104 more into Mason Jar Line Up since it's a Dimensions kit...

Then I started the Autumn Line Up by The Trilogy in honor of the first day of Autumn...

Using 32ct Lambswool for this and the suggested DMC. So happy fall is finally here!! Last one of this set to stitch up. I want this one finished by Dec 1st for an entry into the drawing in Semi Sane. 

So a wonderful 2,976 added this week. 9,296 so far this month. Life is slowing down and X's are sure being made. 

No haul this week but I do have orders coming. Because I mean come on I need more patterns haha. Plans...Finish the ABCingo. 3 calls left. Today is R and I think I'm going to stretch it and work on Autumn Line Up because I'm really ready for fall to be here. L and T are left to be called. I have Luck of the Irish left on my acrostic for September. There was a new pop challenge in Semi Sane I would need 300 on an Autumn piece....easy Autumn Line Up. Then 300 on a character from a book or movie so The Mandalorian might pop out for that. This is due by Tuesday evening. Shouldn't be a problem. Other than that who knows. I hear a lot of yelling from my WIP tote but they yell so loud I can't tell which one is loudest sometimes. 

I'm going crazy making plans for October. I joined yet another FB game group haha. This one we build a zoo which our stitches. Just basically report our stitching and earns virtual stickers to show off our items. I glanced around and they also have some other challenges like another acrostic so why not join that too haha. So I join and join and join and then get overwhelmed. This morning though I laughed and reminded myself to just enjoy it and if I don't get them all who cares? So I'm really happy this morning. I swear sometimes I just seem to overthink everything. At least it's fun thinking about my stitching haha. 

I got all decorated for Halloween and I just love it. Life is slowing down. Bev is still doing okay. They went fishing again like the old days last week but it was still in the 90's so no luck. Point is they had a great time together though so that was the best. I just hope her health stays good. I do admit though I worry every moment the phone will ring with something wrong. So I think I focus on my stitching to hide. Fred (hubby) also is starting physical therapy for his back in October and I really worry it won't be enough for him to no longer be in pain. So please him send some spare thoughts/prayers to be pain free soon. Jeremiah is doing great. Playing his Xbox like a pro haha. My little happy kiddo and I love him for it.  

Have a great week. Love yourself. Smile as often as you can.