Monday Update

I have a lot to share so pull up a chair and let's go.

Saturday I picked up my framing. Are you ready for these beautiful pieces?!?!

First up is the Pine Mountain Snapshots. I did these monthly in 2017. I wasn't able to finish them that year and got a few finished up in 2018. I got them all stretched and my framer made a frame to pop them in and out each month. I need to go back now and update my Box of Shame finishes because these 12 are in that count.

Next up is Ocean in a Bottle from 2019. So happy this one can finally be on display. Now to find the right spot to hang it.

Last is You are Loved from 2018. This was designed by Hinzeit and hubby got it for me for a Christmas gift. I think it will go to the cabin to be displayed. The frame is a light green and I really love how it pulls the green out of the design.

I love the way each one turned out. Professional framing is something I get for special pieces that really deserve that extra touch. I'm so thankful to have these framed and ready to be displayed. I'm lucky to have a LNS (local needlework store) that does framing and their prices are fantastic.

Two more things to share. Sunday I had my first finish of 2020...

This marks off I for the Year Long Alphabet challenge because January is Ice Cold or maybe there's Ice in her drink haha. Also marks off ! on the monthly acrostic because I was really really looking forward to working on this one.

She took me 11 hours and 56 minutes total. I'm happy with that time for these adorable fairies. Again I'm stitching them on 32ct Lambswool Evenweave Suggested DMC 2 threads over 2.

Sunday I also pulled out another piece from my acrostic. My cute random number generator or AKA Jeremiah picked a number which represented Merry Noel. I started this Hinzeit last year for the Longest Day Marathon...

I had set the goal of finishing the top Merry part before putting it aside. Here it is now after last night's work on it...

I hope everyone has a great week.

Final December YOW Update

Tomorrow is the deadline to update my YOW album in the Soulful Stitching Facebook group. This is the first year I've joined in. It stands for Year of WorksInProgress. You pick a list of WIPs which has to be more than 18. You must complete half of them by the end of the year to be entered into some drawings. This time we had to check in April, July, and October. She is doing some changes next year but still the same idea to finish half the list. I'm planning on picking out 20 again. Anyway let's go through my list and see what I ended up with...

1. August Snapshot from Pine Mountain -- Finished for the July Update
2. Cabin Fever from Mill Hill -- No progress since May. Will be adding to next year's list.
3. Camping Out from Mill Hill -- Not started wanted to finish Cabin Fever first
4. Christmas Celebration from Frosted Pumpkin -- Started this one and got 2 days of progress on it so at least I have progress to report. Will be adding to next year's list. Here is my progress...

5. Christmas Jars from Dimensions Kit -- Finished two jars last year need to do two more. No Progress this year. Will be adding to next year's list.
6. December Snapshot from Pine Mountain -- Finished for the April Update
7. Durene Jones Calendar -- Just in time for the update I was able to finish up the December cutie which marks this one off the list...

So happy to have completed this series. Here are all 12 of them now...

Love the way they turned out. Plus they are finished!! Wohoo!!
8. Halloween Sampler from Frosted Pumpkin -- Finished this one up in November...

9. Hold on to Hope from Heaven and Earth Designs -- Finished for the April Update
10. July Snapshot from Pine Mountain -- Finished for the April Update
11.Myrtle Beach Postcard from Erica Michael's -- No progress since April
12. Ocean of Wisdom from Erica Michael's -- Finished for April Update
13. October Snapshot from Pine Mountain -- Finished in October...

14. September Snapshot from Pine Mountain -- Finished in September
15. Spring Bell Pull from Stoney Creek -- No progress since August
16. To the Beach from Hands on Designs -- Finished for April Update
17. Under the Sea SAL from Lakeside Needlecraft -- No Progress this year
18. Where Stitching Meets from Hands on Designs -- Not started
19. Winter Messenger from Erica Michael's -- Finished for April Update
20. You are Loved -- Finished in August
So here is my final count...

So 12 finished of the 20. I will qualify for the drawing. More importantly I'm really happy with finishing those pieces. It was a great push to get them done.

Weekend Update

It's not Monday but I'm here finally with a weekend update. I have another finish to celebrate with you that I finished up Friday night...

(Finished #25) October 26th, 2018

October Snapshot from Pine Mountain Designs

Stitched on 32ct Lambswool Evenweave

Threads are Suggested DMC
  Started Sept 29th. Took me 8 Days.

All 12 Months Finished Now Took 83 Days Total

I wanted to do this series for the Smalls SAL in 2017. They aren't as small as they should have been for that SAL. Plus with 2017 being really busy I had 3 that didn't get finished and I added them to my list of Must Finish in 2018 list. This is the last one now. As I said above the whole series took me 83 days to complete. I really enjoyed each one. Now I need to figure out how I want to finish them so I can display them each month. 

This weekend I received a fun giveaway in the mail...

Cross Stitch Angel blog had a fun giveaway for these cute Joan Elliott magazine charts. I couldn't help but enter. She also included two beautiful floss and adorable koala stickers. Thanks! I will hopefully find time to stitch these adorable charts next year for Halloween.

Saturday morning Jeremiah, Fred, and I loaded up and headed north to Michigan City, Indiana. It's about a 3 hour drive. When I get up that direction I just have to stop at my favorite LNS (local needlework store) House of Stitches. It's a fantastic store that I always LOVE stopping at. They have everything you could want and more. I had 4 projects I wanted to get fabric and threads for...

On the left is Autumn Blessing from Waxing Moon Designs. I got a sparkly piece of 28ct Crystal Mello Lugana and the pile of Weeks Dye Works for the beautiful leaves around the border. Next is Thankful Pumpkins from Lucy Beam Love in Stitches. I got a piece of 28ct Flash Lugana and the Gentle Art Sampler Threads it called for. The last one is the one my hubby is so excited about the Beer Dragon from Paine Free Crafts. I got a piece of 32ct Lambswool Jobelan since it's full coverage. I haven't kitted up the DMC for it just yet. According to hubby it must be started soon haha. Yes I said I had 4 projects Santa has the other one so you will have to wait just like I do for that one.

After the stop at the store we went to visit friends. In 2006 we met this family and we became best of friends. Our sons are best friends too. We have done so many camping trips and adventures together. They aren't friends any more now they have become family. Geocaching brought us together and we can't be more thankful for that. Bernice (the mother of the family) had a severe stroke last June and has had a very hard recovery. Now she was getting more sick and after many tests and frustration we found out she has small cell lung cancer which spread to her brain and other multiple places. She was given 2-6 months left to be with us. It hit us so hard. The world just won't be the same without this sweet woman. We decided to treat Damein (their 16 year old son and Jeremiah's best friend) for the night. We took him out to eat a delicious steak dinner. Then we got a room at a hotel with a pool. For a bit they shared the pool with a gaggle of girls but then...

They got one on one time to just be best friends. It was fantastic. Damein was able to reach out and talk about hard things. We felt like we did the right thing to have this time with him. To give him some time to feel the love we have for him. We took him home the next morning and visited with everyone a bit longer. They are dealing as anyone can with this type of news. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts/prayers.

October YOW Update

While I was gone I frantically had to update my YOW (stands for Year of WIPs) album in the Soulful Stitching Facebook group. We had to post our update by October 18th. I tried to get it posted before I left and for some reason was having all kinds of problems. Of course when you need to get something done it acts up. Luckily I got it finished before the 18th. So I could breath a sigh of relief. Now I can share with my readers too.

This is my first year joining in. I picked out 20 WIPs to put on my list. You have to finish half of them to be able to join in the drawing for prizes at the end of the year. So let's check my list...

1. August Snapshot from Pine Mountain -- Finished for the July Update
2. Cabin Fever from Mill Hill -- No progress since May
3. Camping Out from Mill Hill -- Not started wanted to finish Cabin Fever first
4. Christmas Celebration from Frosted Pumpkin -- Not started wanted to finish Halloween first
5. Christmas Jars from Dimensions Kit -- Finished two jars last year need to do two more. Not started.
6. December Snapshot from Pine Mountain -- Finished for the April Update
7. Durene Jones Calendar -- Have finished these through September. Started October yesterday. Here are the first 9 all together...

8. Halloween Sampler from Frosted Pumpkin -- Working on this one this month. Just posted my update on this project in my last post so won't post again.
9. Hold on to Hope from Heaven and Earth Designs -- Finished for the April Update
10. July Snapshot from Pine Mountain -- Finished for the April Update
11.Myrtle Beach Postcard from Erica Michael's -- No progress since April
12. Ocean of Wisdom from Erica Michael's -- Finished for April Update
13. October Snapshot from Pine Mountain -- Working on this one now. Here is where I am today...

14. September Snapshot from Pine Mountain -- Finished in September
15. Spring Bell Pull from Stoney Creek -- No progress since August
16. To the Beach from Hands on Designs -- Finished for April Update
17. Under the Sea SAL from Lakeside Needlecraft -- No Progress this year
18. Where Stitching Meets from Hands on Designs -- Not started
19. Winter Messenger from Erica Michael's -- Finished for April Update
20. You are Loved -- Finished in August

So according to my count right now for October...
Worked on 3
Not Worked on 8
Finished 2 more for a total of 9 of 20 completed

Just need to complete one more to be entered in the drawing. I will finish the Durene Jones Calendar, the October Snapshot, and hopefully the Halloween Sampler even if it's not by Halloween. I would love to finish the Christmas Celebration too but I won't start that till November. I plan on joining in next year. This has been a fun SAL to participate in.

The People Choose

The wonderful Jo has done it again. She is hosting a blog hop/blog SAL on the first Saturday of every month. Stop over to her blog to see more about it. She is posting the themes ahead of time. I will add them to the right side of my blog too. Each month will have a one word theme. We are to make a post about the word. Whatever we see fits. So far the themes picked are...

October -- Halloween

November -- Birthstones

December -- Dragons

Can't wait to see what we pick next. I think it will be fun to join in when I have a chance and I have a chance right now. So let's see what I can come up with for Halloween...

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. I love scary movies. I love the decorations. It's just fun! So I also love Halloween stitching. But I don't do it enough. I want to change that. This month I'm trying really hard to stick to Halloween stitching for the month of October. Here is my pile of WIPs for the month...

Halloween Sampler from Frosted Pumpkin, Halloween Minis, October Snapshot, and the October Durene Jones Calendar. I had an Erica Michael Petite Halloween piece picked out but I'm just not going to get to it this year so I've took it off my list for this year. So let's see where I am on these pieces right now...

Frosted Pumpkin I have finished up the border and 3 of the blocks inside. I got a teeny amount of progress on the 2nd L block at my stitching retreat in PA recently. I'm really hoping to finish this one this month. We'll see.

Halloween Minis. I have 2 of these finished of the 8 I want to do. I am working on the Vampire Face now. I got a lot of progress while traveling to and from the retreat. I finally got the white in and started on the other colors now.

The October Snapshot is the last one of the series I need to finish up. I got a teeny start at the retreat. I literally only got the border of the first block done haha. On vacation though I got a little of the witch added too in the first section. I'm planning on working on this one for awhile now that I'm home and ready to get back to stitching full time instead of being a tourist haha.

The Durene Jones piece I haven't got started yet but I need to so it can take it's place on my shelf unit that I love making monthly displays on...

You can see 3 other Mill Hill pieces I have done on my shelf already from years past. I need to get the October Durene piece done so I can put September away.

I also wanted to share with you the gifts Astrid gave me while she was visiting us in Gettysburg...

She said she wondered if we had run out of Hershey treats yet? Of course we always will accept more chocolate and how about that cute basket!! Plus she made me this BEAUTIFUL Halloween scissor fob. How cool!!! So those definitely fit the Halloween theme and needed to be shared.

I'm off to work on the Snapshot more. I hope to have more progress to show soon.

Smalls SAL and WIPocalypse

Even though I'm on vacation I want to get my SAL updates in. First up is the September Smalls SAL. The idea of this fun SAL is to stitch up something each month. I've joined in for 2 years before this and I have decided to use this SAL as an excuse to stitch up a monthly design throughout the whole year. This year I'm stitching a Durene Jones Calendar project. So far I've only missed one by just a day. Not September though. I was excited about stitching up this cute hedgehog...

Now for the WIPocalypse update. The idea of this SAL is for us to finish our WIPs before the end of the world. I don't think this will ever happen. Especially after buying all the new stash I just did haha. So I think I'm helping with holding off the end of the world. I like to use this SAL as an excuse to keep track of what I've worked on during the time frame and how many days on each project. It's a fantastic way to look back and see how much progress I have made on my countless WIPs. So let's see what I've been working on since my last update...

You are Loved -- 1 Day and I had this one finished off

Dragon Moon -- 2 Days I was itching to work on HAEDs again
Here is where I got with it...

Dragon Skies -- 2 Days
Here is where she is...

 Durene Jones September -- 4 Days. The photo for this one is the top one for my Smalls SAL.

Sept Snapshot -- 6 Days. Started and finished this one. Just have October left to do now...

Frosted Pumpkin Halloween Sampler -- 6 Days
Here is where I was last WIPocalypse update...

Here is where I am now...

Halloween Mini - Vampire Face - 4 Days
Got started on this one before vacation and have got a little bit stitched while on vacation even...

October Snapshot -- 1 Day. Got started on this one at the retreat. But spent too much time chatting/shopping and not stitching.
Here I am now with it...

No stitching days -- 13. A camping trip, the cabin, and this vacation is stealing my time. But it's all good time to be spending so I'm okay with that. Looking back I have got a lot done and on a lot of different projects so I'm very happy.

Okay now back to my vacation posts. See ya next month for the next SAL updates.

Vacation Day 6 Retreat Photos

Yesterday was the last day of the retreat. I slept good and I was ready to stitch the day away. I pulled out the October Snapshot. It's the last one I need to finish in the series...

I was so excited to get it started and make some major progress. Yep you guessed it. I did a lot more of everything else and not stitching. Here is where I got...

I told everyone I'm really looking forward to getting home so I can stitch haha. I had so much fun laughing and of course shopping. Which I finally remembered to get pictures to share with you guys.

Needleworker's Delight booth. Look at all that beautiful fabric!!

The Nebby Needle's booth. Well at least one side of it.

Noteworthy Needle had these awesome pumpkins. She spent the whole time drilling them for people. Sure turn out neat.

Lucy Beam's booth.

I fell in love with Sirena when I seen a few friends stitching her. I love mermaids and we collect treasure chests. How perfect. Under the Sea Fabrics booth had her finished on a beautiful piece of fabric she makes. I couldn't get a picture of the rest of her booth because it was so busy every time I went by. She has gorgeous fabrics. I was so happy she was selling the pattern for Sirena too. So I of course had to grab it. Plus a piece of material that looks a lot like this one. Can't wait to start it.

Bush Mountain's booth. We all joked about the cage and how you kept getting stuck in it until you spent money to get out.

Pat Carson had a booth setup and did a class.

A lady setup a booth to sell fabric things she had made like Q-Snaps huggies and stuff.

This is a picture of our room where we all sit.

I'm going to go ahead and post a separate post with the goodies I received and bought.

Monday Update

Thursday I finished up the September Snapshot...

(Finish #23) September 13th, 2018

September Snapshot from Pine Mountain Designs

Stitched on 32ct Lambswool Evenweave

Threads are Suggested DMC and 1 GAST

Started Sept 8th. Took me 6 Days.

 

So that's another YOW (Year of WIPs) marked off the list of 20. Just need one more to qualify for the end of the year giveaways. Wohoo! Plus I only have October left to do until the whole Snapshot series is finished from that I did for the Smalls SAL last year. It's kitted up and ready to go so I really hope it will be finished before the end of October.

 

After finishing that up I put two days into the Halloween Spooky Sampler from Frosted Pumpkin. I shared a WIP photo of it in my last post already. 

 

Over the weekend we went to the cabin. We installed a screen door...

Now every time I open the door it scares me since there is a 2nd door haha. It will be so nice when the Fall temps finally arrive and we can have the windows open. Both panes of glass come out so it will have a lot of air flow. My Uncle also made us a beautiful new cabinet to go between the beds...

Now we have somewhere to sit our drinks when we are on the bed. Also decorating space which is always nice to have. Mom came down and spent the night Saturday night. We put up a cot for Jeremiah to sleep on and it worked fantastic. So it's nice to know we can all 4 be in there overnight. Plus Izzy (our dog) came down for the weekend. She had a blast too. The weather was hot again but we still had a lot of fun.

Now we have a busy busy week ahead. We are leaving for vacation Monday the 24th. So lots to do to be ready for that. I get to attend a new to me stitching retreat in Harrisburg, PA though and see several of my PALs Retreat friends so I'm really looking forward to that. We've never been to that area so we are looking forward to new experiences too. I look forward to sharing our adventures on my blog again. So hope you can travel a long with us in spirit. Hope everyone has a great week!

Monday Update

What a wonderful weekend. We decided to take the weekend off. We got a TON of DVR shows watched. Plus I got a TON of stitching time. So I showed you my WIP of the September Durene Jones piece Friday afternoon in my last post. I was able to get it finished up and put together Friday evening...

(Finish #22) September 7th, 2018

September from Durene Jones Calendar
Freebie available on her FB Group
Stitched on 14ct Ecru Aida
Threads are suggested DMC
Started Sept 4th. Took 4 Days.

 

I can't believe I only have 3 more of these to do. I've enjoyed them so much. Sure seems to make the year fly by when I have a cute little monthly to stitch up. 

 

Saturday morning I started the September Snapshot from Pine Mountain Designs. Here is what it will look like...

Here is where I got with Saturday and Sunday full of stitching on it...

Here we are with a new week. We plan on getting out our fall/Halloween decorations this week. We finally have had nice temperatures and we even had to be long pants on this past weekend. We are getting a little warmer this week but only like low 80's instead of high 90's so we'll take it.

If you are on the East Coast of the US please be careful of this hurricane that's coming. Sure sounds scary. My favorite place to vacation OBX, North Carolina might get a lot of damage. I guess we're glad we aren't vacationing there this year after all. I hope everyone stays safe and the damage they are predicting stays small. We were there for Hurricane Matthew and they said it was nothing compared to this one. Scary.

Have a great week! Hope we all find time for those fabulous X's.