SAL Check-Ins

I'm squeezing in my check-ins on a bunch of SALs today just in the nick of time. Not a whole lot of progress was made on anything, but every x counts!

Smalls SAL

This is being hosted by Heather of Stitching Lotus. I managed two for this month.

Treats by Lizzie Kate

 My second finish is for the Christmas Ornament SAL hosted by Kaye of Kitten Stitching. It's one of the Mini Cards from Prairie Schooler. Sorry, I'm not sure of the year; I put the chart away in the wrong folder and have yet to find it again!

Kaye also hosts the Prairie Schooler SAL; I'm working on two Santas for this.

12 Days of Christmas Day 2: added a little more green

1984 Santa: finished the pant legs

It's been a while since I posted a progress pic on my Cinderella's Castle for A New Stitchy Start; this is being hosted by Tammy of I Want To Do One More Stitch. I'm still plugging away at it a few stitches at a time.

I've worked more on Pretty Little New York by Satsuma Street; I'm doing a SAL with Jo and Linda on Tuesdays. I finally finished one whole building!

I really like this designer; I'm planning on starting the rest of the cities as well as several more of her charts for the Super Duper Ultimate January February 2016 Challenge.

Here are a couple of my latest starts:

Trick or Treat by Ursula Michael

Sesame Street Group by Gloria and Pat adapted for Paragon Needlecraft

I bought my first silk flosses from Mo's Sale. They're so pretty and soft!

L-R: Peeta, Rue, Girl on Fire, Joanna, Cinna

And, finally, my sweet, wonderful, handy hubby made me a lapstand!

It's very lightweight and makes stitching the big projects easier. I was at 300 stitches on my Mini Owl Family chart when I took this pic; in two days time I was up to 800! I'm getting faster with my two-handed stitching.

That's all for me on the stitching front; I'll gather some crochet WIPs together for the next post.

Thanks for reading and looking.

Blessings :-)

Five on Friday: Five Things I'm Working On

I have been so flighty and indecisive today! I'm all over the place more than usual. But here are five things I've been working on this week:

1. Getting caught up on laundry, dishes, and other household chores. I was down most of last week with a bad fibro flare, and I was down most of this week with a bad cold. There are a lot of clean laundry piles around the house waiting to be folded and put away, more piles of dirty laundry, and so on.

2. Motifs for my mystery crochet projects. You can find the free pattern here at Signed With an Owl. 

So far, I'm using Dark Orchid, Spring Green, and Shocking Pink.

3. Printing charts, cutting fabric, and making lists for next years's SALs. 

4. More motifs for my mystery crochet projects. They look like eggs now, but I promise you they won't in the end! You can see what they'll look like at Color 'n Cream Crochet. So far, I'm using Bright Yellow and Soft White.

5. And, of course, I have more starts! I actually have more than this, but I had these out to photograph for a SAL. These are my first Heaven and Earth Designs, my first time parking, and my first time gridding. I'm having a blast!

I'm linking this up at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday. One of these days, I'll get caught up on my blog reading, too!

Thanks for reading and looking.

Blessings :-)

Alphabet Club B = Detention for Me!

I'm so late with this post, I'm due for a major detention!

This is being hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching and Chiara of The Grey Tail.

B is for many BEAUTIFUL charts

such as the BOO Club Series by Lizzie Kate.

I currently have four of them as WIPs: Creepy, Spooky, Eek, Fright, and Treats.

And I've finished three: Pumpkin, Brew and Monster.

B is also for Brigitte of At Brigitte's Place, who had the wonderful idea of showing charts in her stash for each letter. She was kind enough to let me borrow the idea.

Here are some B's from my stash that are at the top of my To Stitch list:

Cherished Teddies BEARS

I have a lot of these as I collect them. I think I have close to 20 designs started but haven't worked on them lately so no update pics. Instead, here are more I'd like to start!

Carousel, The Spirit of America, and Gardening Angels, all by Gloria and Pat

BABY Samplers

Although my first cross stitch finish was a baby sampler for my niece, I have yet to make them for my two girls. I like these two the best: Baby Girl Birth Sampler from One Nice Thing After Another by Gloria and Pat, and Noah's Ark For Baby by Leisure Arts.

Also in the B file, I have a BERENSTAIN BEAR leaflet by Country Cross Stitch adapted for Paragon Needlecraft,

BIRDHOUSE Welcome by Dimensions, BINGO by C & L Crafts and Co, and Main Street by BUCKEYE Designs.

Of course, I couldn't forget the designer, BROOKE Nolan, of BROOKE'S BOOKS. I recently discovered her and love a lot of her designs. She has tons of adorable freebies over at her website. You can join her Yahoo Group to access some free charts. She also has an Etsy shop

where she sells her designs. I bought the Little Women set; I think when I start these, I'll stitch them on one piece of fabric rather than four.

Thanks for reading and looking. Hopefully I'll be on time next month!
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 :-)

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 :-)

Alphabet Club and How Many WIPs Winner!

Before I get to the winner of my How Many WIPs giveaway, I'd like to introduce you to 

The Alphabet Club

The Alphabet Club is an A-Z SAL created by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching and Chiara of the Grey Tail.On the first Saturday of every month, we do an alphabet letter related post; we include stitching things, of course, but also any language or custom-related items or fun facts or jokes or anything that goes with the letter of the month.

This month, being the first, is all about the letter A. 
I love to stitch ALPHABETS!
Whether it's just the letters

Summer Alphabet by Lizzie Kate

or a single chart of letters with pictures

Disney Alphabet by Clouds Factory

Christmas Carol Alphabet by FanGirl Stitches

or an individual letter chart with a picture

Alphabet Girls I is for Ice Cream by Jeremiah Junction

I love stitching alphabets :-)

 

Alphabet Jokes

Q: What did A say to B?
A: C you later!

Q: What's the longest word in the English vocabulary?
A: "Smiles" because there is a mile between the first letter and the last!

English Alphabet Fun Facts

The most commonly used letter from the English alphabet is E

The dot over the letter “i” is called title.

About 100 languages use the same alphabet like in English which makes it one of the most widely used alphabets in the world. While some languages have a few more and others a few less, they all share the 23 core letters originally found in the Roman alphabet.

How many WIPs? 

 

So, the time has come! How many WIPs/starts do I have? (I say both because some have been worked on since I started them and some haven't). There were a lot of good guesses. 

The grand total as of Monday was....

147!

Yes, I'm crazy :-)

No one guessed the exact number, but one came close.
The winner of the summer issue of Cross Stitch and Needlework Magazine is

Kaye of Kitten Stitching!

She guessed 153. Pretty close! Congratulations, Kaye! When you get a chance, please email your mailing address to bookworm187@earthlink.net.
Thanks, everyone, for your guesses.
Thanks for reading and looking.
Blessings :-)