WIP Update and Weekend Marathon Plans

First off I want to share with you my progress on Adjust your Sails. I know I say this a lot but I really have enjoyed working on this piece. The pattern is easy to follow. The colors are nice blocks of color. It's my first Little Dove Designs and I will definitely do more of her beautiful pieces. Here I am now after 5 days...

Bridgette picked on me and reminded me she told me to go slow since she hasn't been able to start our SAL yet. I swear I'm just so into it my needles are flying! I have finished the first page. I asked mom if she wanted me to go right with the next page or down and she picked down. So I got a start on the 2nd page down. I've been keeping track of my stitch count since I'm using this for the #24HoursofCrossStitchMonthlyChallenge where we are filling in projects that spell out Twenty-Four. I'm using this one for the N because it has a Nautical theme. I was shooting for the 1200 stitches. Then hit the 2400 stitches level easy. I have 3,121 in now! So now I have N and Y marked off. But this one is going away for a bit now. Especially this weekend.

Tomorrow is the start of the Summer season here in Indiana. Jo hosts the World's Longest Day SAL. It also just happens to be the 3rd full weekend of the month which means it's IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend). Not only that but Fred has a weekend long radio event he is attending and camping at. So the stars are aligned for me to have a Longest Hermit Stitching Weekend Marathon. So no cabin this weekend. I have warned Mom and Jeremiah. It's actually on the calendar that is displayed on our fridge to pretend I'm not here. The food is going to be delivered or is fast and easy to prepare. Snacks are on stand by. TV shows are ready and waiting to be binge watched off my DVR.

So what are my stitching plans? I seen some people are planning to switch pieces at a certain time like an hour on each piece. I seen some people picking one WIP to make progress on the whole day Friday and then a different one for the weekend. So I had a midnight brain storm one night and came up with my fun plan for the weekend...

This is my couch full of projects ready to go. I put all my YOW (Year of WIPs), Extreme YOW WIPs, 5 Old WIPs, and 5 New Starts names onto pieces of paper and put it into my Tinkerbell tin. Starting tomorrow morning I will have Mom or Jeremiah draw a paper. I will pick a goal for the piece and write that down. For example finish a section, finish a color, certain number of stitches, certain amount of time, or something like that. When I reach that goal they will pick the next paper. I'm going to leave the paper for the one completed out that way I have the most about of WIPs touched over the weekend. I can't wait to see what progress I can make. I can't wait to see how many different pieces I'll be able to work in. There are some I really can't wait to work on. Yes there are some I really hope don't get picked. I need to remember a stitch is at least progress though. For those that just aren't as exciting I will just set smaller goals. So let's see the possible WIPs in my tin...

From my YOW List:

4 Seasons by Erica Michaels -- Working on Winter

99 Bottles of Beer by Ink Circles -- Have 45 Bottles Done

Beer Dragon from Paine Free Crafts

Cabin Fever a Mill Hill Kit

Christmas Celebrations by Frosted Pumpkin

Christmas Jars by Dimensions -- Have 2 Done of the Set of 4

Dragon Eye by Eva's Designs

Love 2 Stitch by Hinzeit -- New Start

Merry Noel by Hinzeit -- New Start

Polar Bear Ornament by Durene Jones -- New Start

Salt Water Taffy by Joan Elliott

Santa Ornament by Durene Jones -- New Start

Spring Bell Pull by Stoney Creek Magazine -- Working on the N Block

Under the Sea SAL from Lakeside Needlecraft -- Need to add last 5 months

Wish Upon a Starfish

From my Extreme YOW List:

Best Friend Santa a Mill Hill Kit

Dream of the Sea from Hands on Designs

Evergreen Snowman a Mill Hill Kit

Free to Be Me by Val's Stitching Stuff

Halloween Mini's by Artecy

Park it Here from Noteworthy Needle

Seaside Sampler a Mill Hill Kit

To The Beach Freebie from Hands on Design

5 Older WIPs I picked out:

Paw Print by AAN

Inner Tube a Mill Hill Kit

All I need is Love from Rovaris

Family Blessing by Needle Bling Designs

Wave Dancer by Dinky Dyes Designs

5 New Possible Starts I picked out:

Autumn Blessing from Waxing Moon Designs

A Little Beach from Lizzie Kate

Woof Block from Hands on Design

Beach Ball a Mill Hill Kit

Flip Flops a Mill Hill Kit

I will be back Monday with an update on my weekend. I can't wait to see what comes out to play. Are you going to join in? Grab your stitching and stitch along. Let's see how many X's we can make together.

Monday Update

It's another Monday and boy do I have a lot to share with you.

Tuesday last week I got started on a piece I was really excited to start...

Adjust Your Sails by Little Dove Designs. Bridgette gifted me this wonderful pattern when she seen it was on my wish list and we are going to be SALing with it after she finishes up her current piece. I got permission to start a little early since I finally had time. The suggested fabric color was grey and I found this gorgeous piece of 32ct Picture This Plus Evenweave called Wren from a stitching store in Bloomington, Indiana during the retreat in Southern Indiana.

I'm using this one for the #24HoursofCrossStitchMonthly challenge and plugging it into the N since it has a Nautical theme. I'm going to track my stitch count for this one. The options for stitch count are 120, 1200, 2400. I already hit the 1200 mark so maybe I'll hit 2400 before the end of the month. We'll see. I got 602 in Tuesday and 641 Wednesday. Here is my progress photo...

Thursday I didn't get to stitch because my fun started. Mom and Jeremiah gave me a ride about an hour north to meet up with Sam my girl friend that made that gorgeous dolphin diamond painting in my last post. She had bought tickets for us to see a Mix Tape Tour with Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, Salt N Peppa, Naughty By Nature, and New Kids on the Block! We went with two other girls Sam is friends with...

It was an awesome concert!!! To be in the same room as Donnie Wahlberg was just so cool!! We had so much fun. I stayed the night at Sam's house and then meet up with Mom and Jeremiah Friday morning. We went down to the town our cabin is and ate lunch and did our grocery shopping for the weekend.

Daryl, Damein (my godson who graduated), and his brother Nick came down for the weekend to camp. How perfect to go from visiting with great friends to visiting with more great friends. I love it! Saturday I surprised Damein with a fun gag party. We started a joke a long long time ago when I bought him a unicorn birthday card. I've been buying unicorn things for him ever since. So I threw him a unicorn graduation party...

I had went up to his graduation party and behaved myself. I didn't want to embarrass him in front of his family. But this was my cabin so my territory. It was game on. I got him a light up unicorn headband, cupcakes, plates, napkins, pinata, towel for swimming in the pond, dancing graduation unicorn (couldn't believe I found that!!) wrapped in a box with unicorn wrapping paper, even unicorn rubber ducks! I asked him "Be honest you were surprised when I came to your graduation party and didn't get you anything funny just boring money." He said "Yeah I was a little curious." LOL So he knows me well. He was giggling and really I honestly think he loved his gag party. It's definitely something we all expect me to do haha. I had so much fun going overboard for him. It was so worth it.

Saturday night we had a band at the barn for anyone who wanted to come out and enjoy it...

They do good old rock and roll and everyone loves the music. We danced and had so much fun long into the night. It was a wonderful turn out even with the rainy forecast.

This is just one picture inside the barn. There was an amazing amount of food pitched in. We also setup a tent outside for overflow seating. No raining on our fun. It was just a fantastic weekend indeed. Now we have aches and pains but they are so worth it.

I hope everyone has a great week. I'm looking forward to this weekend and the Longest Day SAL combined with the IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend). I have the food planned out and warned everyone I won't be doing anything other than sitting and stitching like a maniac all weekend. Can't wait! I'll be back to share more information on my plans before hand hopefully. I hope some of you have time to join in too. I know I need it and I'm sure some of my readers do too. Take the coming weekend off and just enjoy our wonderful hobby.

June Gifted Gorgeousness

The 15th of the month is when we post on the lovely Jo's blog for a Gifted Gorgeousness update. For this blog SAL we post about things we have received as gifts or are stitching as gifts for others. Stop over to this post to see what everyone has shared this time. Let's see what I can post about this time around...

I finished up Mom's May and June pillows with the Nautical theme. I've posted the photos several times now in a row so I will spare you guys with more pictures of the same thing.

I worked on Wish Upon a Starfish in this span which was a gift from my mom to remember our trip to California because we loved seeing all the starfish in the ocean along the coast...

I also just started Adjust your Sails which was a gift from Bridgette. I will be posting the photo for that tomorrow for my Monday update though so please stay tuned for that.

Over the weekend though I received an awesome gift I would like to share with you...

My close friend Sam that went to Vegas with us made this diamond painting for me. She knew I love dolphins. I also love purple and there is so much beautiful purple in this design. She fell in love with diamond painting a bit ago and I keep picking on her asking if stitching is next haha. I need to find a frame for this so I can display it.

I'll be back tomorrow for a Monday Update. See ya then.

June FFG

On the 10th of the month there is a check in for the Fully Finished Gallery. The fantastic idea behind this is to push us to finish off our stitching that we have finished. I know I have a drawer full of pieces screaming to be on display instead of just hiding away. Stop over to Rachel's blog to see who has joined in and their beautiful finishes this check in. If you follow my blog you know I was busy for the May check in with our awesome trip to Vegas for Jeremiah's 21st birthday celebration. So I want to recap what I have finished since my last check in which was April...

Right after my last check in post I finished up my April Lizzie Kate Stamp...

Before we left for vacation I put together this fun Bunny and Tulip Biscornu for the Easter blog hop...

This photo shows the top and bottom. I really enjoyed putting it together.

After our trip in May I finished up the May monthly pieces I'm doing. One Nautical set for my mom and my Lizzie Kate Stamp set...

 So far in June I've finished the two monthly set pieces again...

I haven't done any older pieces in this span because it has just FLOWN by. Hopefully I will have some time before the July check in post to finish up something older again. So let's see what I've finished now since this SAL started...

 February -- 5

March -- 6

April -- 5

May (Didn't get to post) --  2

June -- 4

So a Total of 22 now!

Thank you Rachel for this push to finish things instead of just letting them set and wait.

Monday Update

It's 10pm but I'm trying to get this post squeezed in before my bed time. It's Monday and I like to do a wrap up post. To talk about what I was up to since last check in which happens to be last Monday.

So let's see...

I kept working away on mom's nautical monthly piece and finished it Tuesday...

Wednesday I got started on my Lizzie Kate Stamp. I finished it up Friday before our weekend away...

Thursday I was checking Instagram and I started seeing a new to me hashtag #24HoursofCrossStitch so I got to poking around. I was curious what was going on. I found this wonderful video explaining a new to me monthly challenge...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybVKQiY2LaY

I had been watching some other lovely ladies doing these challenges and just didn't think I would be able to keep them straight. Honestly they just sounded like more work than I wanted to put into it. But I loved the idea of the community of stitching friends and doing "homework" like I used to love so long ago in school. This printable sheet Jen made is very easy to understand. Since I was working on the June piece it worked for the Y. Let me explain. It's Lizzie Kate Flip It Stamp June piece but it's a Year Long Set. So it fits. She explains to do whatever you have to do to fit it in. I see the connection don't you? Plus it was a marathon weekend. The goal was to put 24 hours into your stitching some time in the 48 hours of your weekend. Some ladies even did it 24 hours straight!!! I kept track of my time Friday and got 7 hours and 35 minutes in. I had to go to sleep though because we were hitting the road Saturday morning. I will enjoy joining in future marathons weekends and look forward to seeing what other challenges she comes up with.

We were heading up north west. Which means we would be close to my favorite stitching store House of Stitches. So of course we just had to stop. I literally ran through the store grabbing things that I wanted. I got everything I needed and a lot lot more...

Let's zoom in a bit...

Mill Hill Kits -- Tree Shopping, Happy Camper, Hedgehog, Harvest Wagon, Pizza Slice, Fishing Vest and a Quick Stitch patriotic cutie from Stoney Creek.

Back to the top Mill Hill Kits -- Better photo of Harvest Wagon, Moonstruck Manor, Taboo Kitty, The big kit is Cabana Beach. Also got replacement snaps for my one broken Q-Snap clamp. Two threads I need for Adjust your Sails, and a package of beads for another project in my stash. I was one happy shopper!! Of course I thought of other pieces I wanted after I left but I'm sure I'll be back sometime or I could always make my 123stitch order I've been wanting to place for the rest right?

Now that the shopping is out of the way we could get to our hotel. We stayed in New Buffalo, Michigan. Jeremiah's best friend Damein was graduating Sunday. Now I have talked about Damein before on my blog. He's Jeremiah's best friend. His family and my family have become family pretty much. He calls me Aunt Katie and has for a long long time. His mother is my sweet friend that past away this past January. He is 17 years old and he decided awhile ago he wanted to graduate a year early and boy he put his mind to it and did just that. He was pushing himself to do it so she would be here for it. So unfortunately she wasn't able to make it. So we were so thankful when he asked us to come up to attend. We made it to the hotel and Damein and his dad came over to visit and hang out. We went to a big casino nearby and had a delicious buffet.

Another happy place. After Vegas I really became addicted excited about gambling again haha. They had all my favorite machines from Vegas too. I only lost $10 on Saturday. Jeremiah and Damein played in an arcade since he's still a baby. Then we went back to the hotel so the boys could swim. It was wonderful and they got one on one time. I told Damein I really went all out and booked the whole pool area since it was only the two of them and he really laughed about that. (We won't tell him just happened to be no one there right?) They headed home for the night since they had to be to the school early Sunday to get ready. We got all checked out Sunday morning and went back to the casino for an hour....

Like I said.....I'm addicted haha.

Jeremiah gambled with us this time since Damein wasn't there. We thought it was interesting that we spent two weeks in Vegas and Jeremiah never got carded to prove his age. In Michigan he got carded both days haha. He had fun though. I gave him $20 and he cashed out $40 when we left. Wohoo! We won't mention I lost money but at least he came out ahead. Then we went to the graduation. Here is a picture of us after the event...

I love this kid. I was asked a few years ago if I would be his Godmother. I was honored. He has amazed me every day with what he can put his mind to. He is so sweet to Jeremiah. I will always be here for him whenever he needs me. So thankful he wanted us to be a part of his day. We had a great weekend.

I will be back tomorrow with my FFG post. Stay tuned.

Monday Update

Last week I decided to work on Wish Upon a Starfish. I had it packed with us on our Vegas trip. I also took it down to the cabin at least once. But it just never seemed to make it out of the bag. I decided it was time to get it out and get some stitches in finally. Last time I had it out was Jan 14th...

I decided to make my way toward the bottom left of the design this time. After 3 days of work here is where I got...

I reached the bottom left and started my way right. Over the weekend at the cabin I actually found time to stitch...

This was inside our cabin in the morning. Fred was helping dad with a lot of big tasks that I couldn't help with very well. Jeremiah was watching a movie and I stitched a little bit. Then we moved out to our porch since the day was gorgeous. Jeremiah read a book and I stitched some more. I finished the back panel down there Saturday. Sunday when we got home I started working on the front. Here is the piece now...

It was another fun weekend down at the cabin. I got another sign up that I got for Christmas...

This is by the front door inside of our cabin. Fred and Jeremiah did some log splitting this weekend...

I was on a mission to get a photo of this little wren that nested in this cute gnome face my Grandma got...

Found a cute frog. I told it to leave my stitching alone please.

Finally got a photo of the adorable wren peeking out at me. This coming weekend we have a graduation to attend so we will miss a weekend at our cabin. But getting to see friends makes it worth it indeed. I hope everyone has a great week!

The People's Choice -- Mermaids

The first Saturday of the month the lovely Jo is hosting this fun blog check in. She gives us a theme and we make a post on whatever we feel fits that theme. Stop over to her post and see what others have shared for their posts this time around. The theme for the month is Mermaids!

I won't have a problem with this one. I have a lot of mermaids.

 

 

 

 My upstairs bathroom has all kind of mermaids. Ceramic, metal, wood, glass, heavy wrought iron and more metal. I love them all. I always loved swimming as a kid and my whole family said I was a mermaid in a former life. My laptop has a mermaid sticker on it...

My phone case is Little Mermaid and I have a Jim Shore mermaid from Disney Little Mermaid too...

That's a few I could find today on a search of the house. I'm sure I have more here or there. Now let's look at my stitching. According to my photos I've only finished one mermaid right now...

That's Seaside Squared from Erica Michaels. I finished the stitching in 2016. It's in my pile of things to FFO. Now I have many many more in my stash and WIP pile so let's take a quick look...

I purchased this one September 2018 which is called Sirena and really look forward to adding to my WIP list sometime.

Plus the adorable mermaid biscornu I recently purchased when I attended the Hoosier Retreat and is begging to be stitched up too. I also have a few in my WIP totes...

Aquatic Maiden from Tilton Crafts I haven't worked on since 2016. Here she was last time I worked on her...

Just remembered there is a mermaid on the Under the Sea SAL that is on my YOW list but I already finished up the mermaid...

I need to add 5 months to this one though to finish up the year long SAL. This was a mystery SAL from Lakeside Needlecraft from 2017.

I'm not going to look at my stash too hard because I'll be tempted to start a bunch of new pieces. Trust me though I'm sure there are more because like I said I love mermaids. Plus I'm sure there are more for sale that I need want shouldn't get probably will buy sometime since we all know me haha.

May Smalls SAL Check In

Today is the last Friday of the month which means it's time for a Smalls SAL check in. Mary is hosting it over at her blog so stop over and see what people have posted. I use this SAL as an excuse to stitch up a monthly piece all year long. This year I'm doing a Nautical set for my mom and a Lizzie Kate set for myself.

Even though we've been busy busy with our traveling the end of April and beginning of May I was able to finish both April pieces and both May pieces. I didn't get to join in the April Smalls post but you can scroll down and see those pieces if you like in my previous posts. Here are my May finishes again though...

Tomorrow is the first day of June so I have my June Nautical piece packed to go to the cabin for the weekend just in case I find some extra time while there.

Other future plans I would like to share with everyone now. After finishing up my two June pieces I want to start Adjust your Sails. Bridgette who sent me the pattern is going to stitch it along with me. I will work on that until the 3rd full weekend of June which is starting June 21st. Fred has plans and will be gone all weekend. It's IHSW weekend plus Jo will be hosting the Longest Day SAL. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Stitch on one piece the whole time. Stitch on a bunch of different pieces for a certain period of time. I just couldn't settle on an idea. Then I woke up one night and was laying in the bed. I swear I do the best thinking in the middle of the night. An idea popped in my head and I'm so excited.

Friday morning I will start. I'm going to put all my WIP names in a tin. Jeremiah (or mom) will pick a WIP out. I will make a goal on that piece and write it down. Something like finish an area, finish a symbol, certain number of stitches, or certain amount of time. At the end of that Jeremiah will pick out the next paper. Then I thought why just do that Friday for the Longest Day SAL. I'm really looking forward to it. So I'm going to keep at it for the whole IHSW. So Friday morning until Sunday evening at bed time. My other goal is watch as many TV shows off my DVR as I can because I'm so far behind.

Now I can't wait!!! I've warned the family. I'm going to make sure everything is ready and waiting for me to stitch stitch stitch. Will you be joining in? What's your plans. Let's make it a big one. Bring in Summer with a bang.

Day Late Monday Update

Yeah Yeah it's Tuesday but yesterday was a holiday so I'm posting today. You might have noticed in my WIPocalypse post I had a new finish. I started working on my Lizzie Kate May Stamp on Monday last week. I worked on it 4 days and manged to finish it right before leaving for the weekend to our cabin Friday...

The weekend was rainy and our poor campground was just a muddy mess. So no real work was able to get done but it didn't stop us from having fun and enjoying time together as family. We got a new antenna for our TV and it made a HUGE difference. Now we can finally enjoy some TV instead of hoping it works here and there. Monday after we were home we heard tornadoes warnings. There were 3 warnings right near where our cabin is located. One tornado hit just a few miles away and destroyed 2 houses. So scary. Dad went over to check on everything and other than a lot of flooding everything was okay. We were all glad we weren't there at the time. All the family reported in safe and safe so a very scary situation ended good at least.

At the cabin Jeremiah and I worked on a Lego kit we got in Vegas that represents the Las Vegas Strip. I didn't get any photos. I will next time. I was just enjoying living the memories instead of capturing them this weekend I guess. I've had Wish Upon a Starfish packed while we traveled and every weekend at the cabin so far. So when I got home I finally sit down and pulled it out. I put in a few stitches but I'll wait and share an update later. Felt good to work on it again.

I hope everyone has a great week. It will feel short but I feel like I have a lot I need done in that short time. So I'll breath and do my best.....all I can do.