More Progress

Poor baby girl has been suffering with a nasty upper respiratory infection for the last several days, so she's been my main focus. Doctor says it's not serious, we just need to let it run its course. She has some medicine but hates taking it. And she's just miserable, poor thing. I feel terrible because I can't explain to her why she feels terrible!

So, I have a lot to show you. I'd meant to break this up into several shorter posts, but as the deadline for a lot of the SALs is today, I have to combine everything into one long post.

First up, crochet progress. I finished putting black on all my pink roses and attached the first row of squares. Only 55 more to go!

In the midst of digging through my UFO box, I came across thirty burgundy roses I had made for another project and decided not to use. They were too pretty to frog, so I'm turning them into a baby blanket for a coworker of Tim's. I used Red Heart Super Saver Spring Green for the leaves, Perfect Pink for the double granny round, and am joining the squares with Shocking Pink.

Now, on to stitching. I have two more finishes! I still can't believe I finished five pieces in August! (Of course, I started a lot more.)

Here's Amazing by Kincavel Krosses (free chart):

And here's I Never Finish Anyth from Pixel Power Design:

Small finishes, but still finishes.
And (drum roll, please), I have my first FFO!

It's not perfect. There are a few things I think I'll do differently next time. But, all in all, I'm very pleased with my first finishing efforts.

This leads me to SALs, as this ornament is for the Christmas Ornament SAL hosted by Kaye of Kitten Stitching.

Kaye is also hosting two other SALs I'm participating in, the Prairie Schooler SAL and the Americana SAL.

 

For the Prairie Schooler SAL, I couldn't decide which piece to focus on, so I'm working on two. On the left is Santa's 12 Days of Christmas Day 2, and on the right is Prairie Schooler Santa 1984 (the first one in the series).

For the Americana SAL, I'm working on Stars and Stripes by Ursula Michael. I haven't made much progress on this, just the border on the center quilt.

I have been making progress on some of my other SAL pieces. For the Tuesday Pretty Little City SAL I do with Linda and Jo, I've been adding stitches to New York. There's a lot more to the building on the left now.

For the YOTA SAL hosted by Pull the Other Thread, I finally dusted off Cluttered and resumed working on it. I'm taking a break from the cabinet and working on the items on top of it.

I've been slowly plugging along with Cinderella's Castle for A New Stitchy Start:

 

And, finally, I have several new starts. You know me, I can't finish one without starting at least three more! 

Cat Lessons for People by Lizzie Kate:

March Calendar Girl by Little House Needleworks:

Dragon of Fire by Dragon Dreams (free chart):

Coffee Crazy by Lizzie Kate:

Spooky by Lizzie Kate:

Treats by Lizzie Kate:

Box of Delights by Blackwork Journey (free chart):

S is for Sewing by Prairie Schooler:

E is for Embroidery by Jeremiah Junction:

Is It Coffee Yet? by Lizzie Kate

I have been working on a new stitchy rotation for almost a month now and am really, really happy with it. I've made a lot of progress on a lot of different pieces. It's a bit complicated so I'll save the details and progress pics for another post. But I am trying to integrate the same idea into my crocheting.

Thanks for reading and looking. I'll try to get around to all your lovely posts in the next couple days.
Blessings :-)

 

Smalls SAL - Three Finishes!

Thank you for all the well wishes on my last post :-) The last couple days have been much better with a lot less pain. Tim survived his super long shift and got some rest; I don't know how often he'll have to work them, but it'll probably be until they get some more mechanics.

I'm breaking my progress posts into pieces so they're not too long. Today's is all about the Smalls SAL hosted by Heather of Stitching Lotus. And I have three - yes, three, isn't it amazing? - small finishes for the month!

You saw this one already. It's the Boo Club Monster by Lizzie Kate. For anyone curious, I stitched the eyes as black Smyrna crosses with white French knots in the middle because I didn't have any buttons small enough.

I finished the Boo Club Brew by Lizzie Kate, too. That makes three in the series completed!

And I finished my first Prairie Schooler design! This is Santa's 12 Days of Christmas Day 1. Now to focus on Day 2. I wonder how many I can finish this year?

I had so hoped these would be FFOs (Fully Finished Objects for those who don't stitch) in time for this post; I bought fabric and batting and have chipboard. But pain days slowed me down. Maybe I can squeeze in some time this weekend.

Thanks for reading and looking. I'll be back tomorrow with some more progress photos.

Blessings :-)

This and That

I've been having more fibro pain days than good days lately. On the good days, I run around trying to catch up. The house is in a perpetual state of mess.

It hurts more to crochet than stitch so I've been doing more stitching lately; I think I finally found a rotation that works for me. I should have some update pictures later in the week for some different SALs. 

I finally did some blog reading today while lying on the couch (yay for laptops!). You've all been so busy; I've missed catching up with you.

Tim's working a double shift today (ugh, 19 hours straight!), so it's just me and the girls until tomorrow evening. He'll work 6 am today to 1 am tomorrow, catch  a short nap at work, and then work tomorrow 6 am to 5 pm. The money's nice when he works so much overtime, but we miss him, and he's always so tired. All the extra hours are taking a toll on him. 

That's it for now. Thanks for reading.

Blessings :-)

Gifted Gorgeousness and TUSAL

Late, late, for a very important date! Two, actually. My computer was in the shop this week, so I'm waaay behind on my blog reading and posting. 

Two dates I missed:

TUSAL - Totally Useless Stitch Along hosted by Sharon of It's Daffycat. My ort jars are pretty full this month. The yarn one is emptied every month, but the thread one is for the whole year. I may actually reach my goal of filling it by December!

Gifted Gorgeousness hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching. These three charts were gifts from my wonderful stitchy friend, Linda.

I'm so close to a finish with these two!

Prairie Schooler Santa's 12 Days of Christmas Day 1

Boo Club Brew by Lizzie Kate

But I really did finish this one! Yay!!

Boo Club Monster by Lizzie Kate

I'll get caught up with all of your posts this coming week.

Thanks for reading and looking.

Blessings :-)

Summer Mystery SAL

Of course, I joined another SAL. I seem to be addicted to them! This one is being hosted by Natalia of With My Threads. Each week, we get three mini motifs emailed to us to add to a design. It's fun, fast, pretty stitching, and I'm really enjoying it. I didn't quite finish the first three, but I came close.

I just love the colors in this design. So bright and summery. And with temps in the triple digits all week here in North Texas, it's still very much summer!

Thanks for reading and looking.

Blessings :-)

WIP Wednesday: Crochet and Cross Stitch

I've been working on various projects over the last week, both crochet and cross stitch.

I've added a double granny round in black to 21 of my rose squares and started attaching them with Panther Pink using the flat braid join. The pattern is designed by Astri of Apple Blossom Dreams and is available for sale in her Etsy shop.

I pulled out a poor neglected UFO and started assembling it. The pattern is designed by Kate of Signed With an Owl. I made the squares with Red Heart Super Saver in Zebra and Black, Loops and Threads Impeccable in Gray, and I'm joining them as I go with Red Heart Super Saver in Burgundy. Two rows done, four to go.

I started two "just because" stashbuster projects using the Diagonal Granny Stripe pattern from Zooty Owl's Crafty Blog. The first one is made with scraps and a J hook; the second is made with Lion Brand Homespun in Corinthian and an L hook.

And I'm working daily on several mystery crochet projects. Here are some of the motifs.

I'm very close to a finish on my Prairie Schooler Santa's 12 Days of Christmas Day 1. I still hope to completely finish it by the end of the month for the Christmas Ornament SAL hosted by Kaye of Kitten Stitching.

I did a couple more letter blocks in Summer Alphabet by Lizzie Kate; this was my rotation piece for the last five days.

And I started several more charts "just because". 

A Little Bit of August by Lizzie Kate on 14 ct Aida in Sand

Boo Club Creepy by Lizzie Kate on 14 ct Aida in Smoketone

Boo Club Eek by Lizzie Kate on 14 ct Aida in Smoketone

It's Not Easy by Pixel Power (free) on 14 ct Aida in Light Blue

Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes-Attack from HornswoggleStore on 14 ct Aida in White

Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes-Attack from HornswoggleStore on 14 ct Aida in White

ABCs of Halloween by Lizzie Kate on 14 ct Aida in Smoketone

Thanks for reading and looking.

Blessings :-)