Still trying to get into the swing of things!

I don't know what it is but I always have such a hard time to get back into the routines after the holidays and I end up being behind on everything. Maybe it's because I really look forward to some time off from school and I'm exhausted after Thanksgiving and Christmas parties but I just feel like a blob. Somehow I have gotten some stitching done, it was probably when I was blobbing in front of the TV and fire place. STO had a Jan 1st challenge and I pulled out the Travelling Stitcher and it stitched up quickly. I didn't change a thing on it since the threads came with and I had 32 ct lambswool at home.



And STO also had a WIP challenge. Just stitch on a WIP a bit in January instead of starting something new. This little Dimples Design bug has been in the UFO pile for probably 7-8 years since it was driving me bonckers. With an ott light I had a much easier time with it and finished it in 4 days. Clearly I have been overestimating my ability to see without that light.


Finally out of the woods on Christmas Village from Prairie Schooler. Seriously, that's a lot of trees and I almost put this project away. But I pulled it out again after my little finishes and it's whole lot more fun now.

I have 1 fun new start and another one that I'm kitting up so hopefully I'm back with more updates soon.

If there's anyone out there that still stops by, thank you for visiting and for every sweet comment!

Happy Haunting Finish!

It's been busy here with my husband travelling again. October and November are usually like that for us. I did have a couple of more finishes. The big one is Happy Haunting from Shepherds Bush!! I started it a couple of years ago and has taken it out every fall and stitched a bit on it. This fall I just kept on going on and finished it early November.



I joined the Christmas Challenge that Becky is hosting and got this cute guy stitched up. I love Mill Hill's ornament kits and have quite a few of the santa's so I want to stitch more of them up. I started this one a while ago but figured out that I had stitched the polar bear with a light gray thread and had to frog the whole bear which I had started with and was almost finished. So out went all the stitching and I had to start it over from scratch. I wasn't sure that the cardboard paper would hold up but it did. He's the Nanavut Santa from the Arctic Circle Santas series from Mill Hill.



And I did some finishing work too. I think these are the Redwork Santas from Prairie Schooler. I stitched them up a couple of years ago and couldn't figure out how to finish them. A couple of months ago I got this idea and tried it out on one of the santa's and since it worked out ok I went ahead and finished the rest of them the same way. Can't wait to set up my tree with handmade ornaments this year, lots of new pretties.

Thank you for stopping by and for your sweet comments!

Sanctuary and Wicked finishes!!

I finally finished Sanctuary, I think I started this in 2006 and without Sally's SAL it would still be lurking around in my stash somewhere. Thanks Sally, you can take some credit for this one! I think I used BOAF's Sandpiper linen, 32 count and the called for NPI's.



I love all the little details in this sampler!






The hollyhocks were one of my absolute favorites.



I kitted up a little Halloween design that I have been itching to do for a while. I think it's called Wicked from La D D. It was oop but was reprinted in Just Cross Stitch's Halloween book. I used 36 ct Havana from WDW and Carrie's Threads (can't remember the exact colors, and they are somewhere in the stash).



When I was done with Sanctuary and Wicked I felt a bit lost and didn't know what to work on so I pulled out another WIP that I have been working on for a couple of years, Shepherd's Bush Happy Haunting (kit). Filling in that hill on the top turned me of this piece but Mel came over and we stitched and all of a sudden I was done. The other bands have gone pretty quick so I'm hoping to finish this one.



Remember the snowmen I stitched for the Dodge House? Well, This is how many I got done! Not bad if I say so myself. They are very quick stitches though. And so much sparklier in real life, lots of beads!

Thank you for all the sweet comments on my Spring Sampler finishes! They mean the world to me. I haven't been doing the blog rounds yet but I'm planning to the next few days. Earlier this week I took another accounting exam and I have been busy studying for it. The result- bleckity bleck! Didn't feel great about it but I have been doing good in that class, some problems I had to do ahead of time so that could save me.

Two questions: Would anyone be interested in the Sanctuary chart? It's a bit worn so I'm not selling it. Mostly it's the folds in the middle of it that are a bit scruffed. If more than one person is interested I will hold another give away. Second question, is anyone interested in a Prairie Schooler Christmas Village SAL? I have had the chart since it was released but never got around to stitch it. I would love to SAL with someone and have it ready for next Christmas. Let me know!

Spring Samplers from Prairie Schooler finish!

It feels like I can't remember when I didn't work on these! But I finally have all 3 finished. I used all the called for DMC on a fabric from Silkweavers, a 32 count evenweave that I think was called Winter Sky. Not certain about the name though, it might be Spring Sky too but not Summer since that's more true blue. The sampler above was my favorite of the 3, isn't the frog cute.


The last sampler I finished and it's so much cuter then the picture. I didn't have much left on it so I just pulled it out and got it finished this week.


This is the sampler I started first and I loved stitching it but those borders took a lot of time.

Sorry about the wrinkles, I put them in a plastic bag so I can take them with me frame shopping. I want them all ready to go on display next spring.

I'm almost done with Sanctuary, I'm thinking I'm having another finish this week!

Thank you as always for visiting! Sharing my stitching my stitching with you means so much to me.

Winner!

I had 6 interested ladies so I just told me DD to pick a number between 1 and 6. She picked number 4 - which is Carol since she was the fourth one to post.

I'll mail this out as soon as I get your address info Carol. Congratulations

2011 PS Santa give away!

I ended up with 2 of this chart. He's really cute and fresh from the printers.

If you are a follower just leave comment on this post and I will draw a name before this weekend.

Thanks for visiting and all the sweet comments on my last post!

Summer House from Blackbird Designs framed!

I love how it turned out! If I would do the design again I would pick another fabric so it would stand out more. I have to find a wall to hang all my framed BBD designs, I have a bunch that lives in the closet in my guest room.

Thank you for visiting and for your sweet comments! They brightened my day when I was slaving over balance sheets!