April YOW Update

This year I joined a new to me Facebook SAL in a group called Soulful Stitching. They have a fun SAL called YOW which stands for Year of WIPs. The goal is to finish at least half of your list. You have to have a minimum of 15 items on your list. It was too hard to pick 15 so I picked 20 things I really would love to finish this year. Throughout the year we update our progress April 18, July 18, October 18, and then December 18 or there after is a drawing for the people who have finished half and posted the updates correctly. I finished my update today on the group and figured I would share here too.

1. August Snapshot -- Not started but I do have it kitted up and ready to go...

2. Cabin Fever -- I did get one day on this Mill Hill kit since the start...

3. Camping Out -- Haven't started this Mill Hill.
4. Christmas Celebration -- Haven't started but did get the fabric bought for it.
5. Christmas Jars -- Haven't made progress on this one. -- 2 Jars Left
6. December Snapshot -- Finished this one!!

7. Durene Jones Calendar -- 4 of these finished now but I'm using them as one project...

8. Halloween Sampler -- Haven't started but bought fabric.
9. Hold on to Hope   -- Big Finish and Framed...

10. July Snapshot  -- Finished this one!!!

11. Myrtle Beach Postcard -- I have this one ready to start hopefully tomorrow...

12. Ocean of Wisdom -- Another one marked off the list...

13. October Snapshot -- No progress
14. September Snapshot -- No Progress
15. Spring Bell Pull  -- Finished up the I block and started the N block Before and After photo...

16. To the Beach -- Finished this one!!

17. Under the Sea SAL -- No progress    5 Sections Left
18. Where Stitching Meets -- No progress
19. Winter Messenger -- Another finish marked off...

20. You are Loved -- You guys have seen this one recently. But here is the Jan beginning and now YOW progress pics though...

So let's recap...

I've worked on 5

I haven't worked on 9 

I have 6 finishes!!! 

So I'm happy happy with my progress. Here's hoping I'll have even more progress for the next check in July 18th.

Monday Update

Hey look a Monday update on Monday what a new concept haha. This week is already a million times better than last week and it's only the start. I got more done today than all of last week.  Sometimes life can just throw us everything can't it? Hey it's a new week. We can do this!

I put 2 days of stitching last week into my You are Loved Hinzeit piece. I figured I would just wait and show you an update for the Gifted Gorgeousness update on the 15th so hang in there for that. I have something better to post about right now...

Saturday Fred and me had errands to run. We went down to my dad's to do some final measurements at our family campground. Then we went and put our down payment on our cabin for the campground. Now they will complete the work on it and it will be delivered when we have the spot prepared. We can't wait! We've loved camping at the family campground but in a tent you have to worry about it being too cold, too hot, and all the rain and storms we can sometimes get. This coming season we will be spoiled rotten in comfort. It's going to be a 12 foot x 24 foot room basically and we will have heat and AC. Perfect. We are also going to build a covered porch so we will have outside setting too. I will have photos to share later don't worry. Right now it's just the start of the plans and we are really really excited to have our little home away from home.

On the way back home my hubby took me to my LNS so I could pick up Hold on to Hope. Here she is...

 As you can see we picked out a silver shiny type frame. We thought that would help her be the focus and show off the sparkle in the fabric. I just LOVE having her hanging on the wall finally!! They did a perfect job on her. I also figured while I was there I would find a little piece to do for the upcoming Easter blog hop. I found two I liked and I asked my hubby to pick which one he liked the best. He said Why don't you get both? (I'm so lucky to have my awesome hubby!) So I got two small Lizzie Kate's to do. I started one Saturday night after getting home and pulling the threads. I was able to get the first one finished up last night...

(Finish #9) March 4th, 2018

Hop Squared from Lizzie Kate

Stitched on 28ct Cream Lugana

Threads are Suggested DMC

Started Mar 3rd. Took 2 Days

It was a fun fast stitch. The other one I got was called Basket...

I will be starting it soon. I'm thinking of finishing them as cubes. I know I said I wouldn't be starting lots of new things this year. I blame Jo for hosting the fun blog hops. I just felt like a fun new piece would be best to share for the blog hop. Don't you think? So don't be too mad at me please.

Today is my hubby's 40th bday. We have fun plans this coming weekend so I'm doing the best I can to have a good week and be ready to celebrate the weekend away in his honor. I hope everyone reading this has a great week too. Maybe I'll be back soon with another Lizzie Kate finish. Now to just finish finish them before the blog hop on Good Friday.

Feb WIPocalypse

Today is time for a WIPocalypse check in. The point of this fun blog SAL is to stitch all our projects before the end of the world. (Yeah right!) You can stop over to this post to see what everyone has been working on this past month. I like using this as an excuse to keep track of what I've been working on and how many days on each project. So let's see what I've been up to...

HAED Hold on to Hope -- 2 Days of work and she was FINISHED!! Here she was for the Feb check in...

Here she is now finished...

Durene Jones Calendar -- 3 Days. Started and finished up the Feb design. I'm doing these each month for the Smalls SAL. Here it is all finished up and on display already...

Spring Bell Pull -- 3 Days. I picked this one up again. Hadn't worked on it since Sept 24, 2017. Here is where I was before...

 

After the 3 days this time I finished up the I block and started the N block...

 

July Snapshot -- 6 Days. I started and finished up this monthly snapshot...

Wish Upon a Starfish -- 2 Days. I hadn't worked on this one since Nov 29, 2015! Here it was before...

Here it is now...

I have had a lot of missed days in this span. 15 no stitching days. Plans and some stress have kept me busy. Still when I do stitch I seem to make a lot of progress. So at least that helps balance it out.

We also get questions of the month. This month's question is: Gadgets!  Show us your favorite stitching gadgets! My only real stitching gadgets are like most people. I use a Q-Snap with a Q-Snap huggy to hold the extra fabric. I also LOVE my magnet board that sits beside my stitching area to hold my patterns while I stitch. The magnet board is held up by a floor stand that was given to me from another stitcher. It keeps my magnet board the perfect height and right where I need it to be. That's the only real gadgets I use.

I know I said I would be back to tell you about my weekend in my last post. I will be back. I wanted to get this post done and then I have blogs to go read. Maybe I'll even be able to pick up my stitching this evening. I haven't picked it up since Thursday. So hang in there. I'll be back...I promise....sometime haha.

Huge Celebration!!!

My end of January and beginning of Feb has not went well at all. I swear everything that could go wrong went wrong (well within reason now that I'm thinking about whining about it). So hang on a few minutes while I complain before the celebration part of this post. Mom's dish receiver went out right after mine. It was an "easy" fix though. A hard drive failure so I called to get a new receiver. I was told this and that and thought it would be fixed after we installed the new receiver. Got the new receiver and it wasn't what they said they were going to send. I wanted the newer version like I had just got in my side of our house. Called and got more this and that and realized it all just what had to be lies. Now if you want to upset me lie to me. Like everyone I think...that really bothers me. Fine. I'll deal with it. Next day we hooked it up. Guess what?? The new receiver had a major part of it that was broke. Yep ...new phone call... new lies. We had to wait 2 days for a technician to come out. Poor guy. I was worried when he got here because he was just out of classes. A newbie. But he listened and heard what I was saying which was a lot more then he even knew haha. Together (mostly thanks to me) we fixed the issue. Lots of other stress was going on and I swear there were several days I just stared aimlessly at the TV in hopes it would make me feel better. I only stitched 2 days since my last post. So Hope was not feeling very hopeful to get finished off. Friday I finally said Come on Katie....Kick this depression and get busy. I only had 337 stitches left...

And...

Guess What?!?

She's Finished!!!!!

(Finish #6) February 2nd, 2018

Hold on to Hope from Heaven and Earth Designs

Artwork by Selina Fenech

31,276 Total Stitches 9 Pages

Stitched on 28ct Evenweave 1 Thread over 1 Complete X

Threads are 90 Different DMC as Suggested

Started on August 17th, 2012. Took 102 Days. 

 

Another one of my focus pieces for the year marked off. I was trying to explain to my husband last night. Yeah I'm excited but I'm kind of sad too. I will miss her. I've worked on her so long. But I have several other HAEDs to fill the void. She deserves to be on the wall on display. So the celebration is on!!! What a journey she has had. Now soon I will get her to my LNS and get her framed. 

Saturday my hubby and I took a drive to where we are getting our cabin from this spring for the campground. It was a fantastic time and hubby and me had 4 hours of driving to talk about all the issues that have been going on. I have to take better care of myself and only worry about things I can control. I know that's easy to type but I've been trying hard and already feel a lot better. It's not worth stressing myself over every little thing. Some things we really can't control and just have to breath our way through it. I'm not a good person when I let it get me down. Who is?

Yesterday hubby had a Ham radio event so I settled in for a nice relaxing stitching day. I started the next Durene Jones Calendar piece. Here is February after the first day...

Definitely a stitching filled day indeed. It felt great. Today I'm ready to start a new week. I hope everyone reading this has a great week too. Remember to love yourself and treat yourself with the respect you deserve. Big Hugs to All!

January WIPocalypse

It's the last Sunday of the month which means it's WIPocalypse time. This is where you go to see this month's check in. So stop over and see what others are talking about. WIPocalypse started to help us all stitch our projects before the end of the world. Of course if you are like me you keep adding to the pile and that doesn't help any haha. I like to use this SAL as a fun excuse to keep track of what I have worked on since the last check in. So let's see what I've been working on so far this year...

You are Loved -- Worked on 4 Days. Here is the project now after 6 days total...

Durene Jones Calendar -- Worked on 3 Days. I'm stitching these designs up each month for the Smalls SAL. I started and finished up the January piece...

Winter Messenger -- Worked on 2 Days. I was able to finish this one off after working on it these last two days. So glad to mark this one of my WIP list.

Pine Mountain Snapshots -- Worked on Dec for 3 Days. I was able to get this one finished off. Now I just have 4 more to do.

Salt Water Taffy -- Worked on 4 Days. I hadn't picked this one up since Feb 26th, 2017. Here is where I was...

Here it is now after the 4 days...

By the Sea -- Worked on 1 Day. Picked this up and finished it off after last working on it January 14th, 2016...

 Mill Hill Cabin Fever -- Worked on 1 Day. Got a little start on this one till I heard another WIP calling. Not even enough to take a photo of.

HAED Hold on to Hope -- Worked on 6 Days. I hadn't worked on this one since May 25th, 2016. She was screaming to get out and be finished. Here she was when I picked her up again...

Here she is now after finishing off page 8...

I just have 852 stitches left to finish her so she can finally get her place on the wall where she deserves to be.

I also had a fun little Valentine finish in 2 days. But I'm not showing the photo till the Valentine Blog Hop. So stay tuned.

I only had 3 no stitching days. I have to admit I love this time of year. I got so much stitching done this month. It feels great! Plus just in this span I got 5 finishes. 3 completed finished finishes. I'm one happy stitcher. Now to just try to keep it up the rest of the year haha.

We also get fun questions to answer with our posts. Here is the question for this check in... What SAL’s are you participating in this year? Mine are all listed in the side bar. WIPocalypse, Smalls SAL, Gifted Gorgeousness, IHSW. I also joined in the Soulful Stitchers group and joined the Year of WIPs (YOW) this year. I've listed 20 pieces I really want to finish for that. This year my real goal is just to stick to it and get some of the 75 WIPs on my list marked off.

Thanks for stopping by for my WIPocalypse post. See ya Feb 28th for the next one. Hopefully will a bunch of progress to share.

Page Finish on Hope

I finished up the 8th page on Hold on to Hope last night. This means 30,424 stitches in now. Just 852 left on the last page! According to my progress bar she is 97% complete.

I'm going to take a small break and do a little piece for the upcoming Valentine Blog Hop. But she will be back out after that to get finished off.

I posted on the 15th about my frustration of getting a new Dish receiver. Guess what happened now? Mom's decided it wanted attention and we are having to replace it haha. Luckily this time it's just a hard drive failure so they will just send us a new receiver. We also had to order the over the air part. Since they still don't have any at Dish. But luckily I found another one online. We got our part installed last night finally and it works fantastic. You can even DVR two things at a time from the antenna so now instead of 3 I can record 4 things at a time. Wohoo. So even though it's frustrating it seems to be working out in our advantage.

Mom is now 5 weeks out from her stroke. She is still doing a lot better. Yes she still has some times where she just can't find the right word but overall I'm happy with her progress. She seems more clear for longer spans. I think next week we will try to do a small drive down to our Subway to see how her driving is. She really wants us to be able to go get groceries again. So we need to try something small.Thanks again for all the thoughts/prayers for her.

Monday after IHSW Update

This weekend was the 3rd full weekend of the month. That means it's IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend). Perfect excuse to warn the family, grab your stitching, and stitch the weekend away.

My last post I said I was thinking of working on one of my new Mill Hill kits. I had heard them screaming to be started. Thursday I couldn't wait any longer and I started Cabin Fever. I got one little section started and then the real screaming began but not from the Mill Hill anymore. This was a very loud screaming from across the room. It was not to be ignored. I walked over to my WIP tote and seen my HAED Hold on to Hope jumping up and down. Me Me ME!!! Okay Okay. How could I ignore her?

Here is the close up on where she was when I started working on her Friday morning. The last time she was out was May 25, 2016!! I don't blame her for being mad.

Friday I got 624 stitches in and finished the column off.

Saturday morning we did a quick grocery run to Costco so that took some time. Then this section was full of confetti (lots of color changes) stitching. So I was only able to get 232 stitches in.

Sunday I got 299 more stitches in. Here is the whole piece now...

She is very happy to have a total of 1,155 stitches put in this weekend. You can see in the whole picture how close I am to being finished. So I'm bet her screaming won't be hushed till she is hanging with pride on the wall.

I will be back in another post soon with my giveaway announcement. A few chores have to be done first since I put off over the weekend.

Hope Update

I figured Hold on to Hope didn't belong in my Smalls Post haha. So she gets her own post. I finished another set of columns. I have 28,126 stitches in now. 92 Days of work. I have only 2,298 left on this page!!! The last page is a small one with 852 stitches on it.

Monday Update

I hope everyone reading this had a very Happy Easter weekend. We ate ourselves miserable several times haha. It was just our household to celebrate this year but we had a great time and enjoyed each other. Jeremiah found a bunch of candy and some new PJs and swim clothes. He was one happy little kiddo. I was able to get a lot of stitching time too. So it was a fantastic weekend indeed.

After the WIPocalypse update on the 23rd I picked up the Spring Bell Pull from the Stoney Creek Magazine. I was able to get the S block all finished up...

It took me 9 days to do. Here is a reminder of what it will look like...

There are backstitched words that go along with the blocks in the pattern. This one said Sing. I've decided to leave the words off. It's funny because I saw another person doing this set of patterns and she left the words off too. Anyway in the opening on the left of the letter S there is a cute little bee button. I just won't put it there until the piece is finished so it doesn't get broke. After I finished the S block up Saturday I knew Sunday Hope could pop back out. I got 540 more stitches into her...

I'm linking up to the Stitchery Link Party. She has an adorable duck embroidery freebie this week. If you want to head over and link up to share the project you've been working on.

Also there is a giveaway going on over at Sasha's blog. Follow this link. She found some beautiful patterns at a sale and is willing to part with one of them. The giveaway ends 4/3.

I hope everyone has a great week.

Hope Update

I'm back with another update on Hold on to Hope (HAED). I'm stitching her on 28ct evenweave 1 thread over 1 complete X. 89 Days worth of work so far. I finished another set of columns (I stitch two at a time.) on this page. So let's talk numbers 26,668 stitches in now. I only have 3,856 left on this page. Then a page of only 852 stitches. Here she is out of the Q-Snaps...

So close. But I have other pieces calling my name right now. She will be back soon trust me.