Happy Halloween!!!

I wanted to post a few pics of my Halloween decorations before we are off to an evening of trick or treating. The first one is the view from my computer (the top of my little roll top desk). I stitched the trick or treat piece 2 or 3 years ago and never finished it into anything, so this year I just stuck it in a frame so it could at least be out of my Halloween box for a bit.

This next one is of a bat I did last year. The design is a Lizzie Kate one that I think is adorable (like all of her designs are!).

The witch ornament was actually a gift from a friend, stitched on that hard plastic stuff.The outside is beaded with little black seed beads. She is definitely one of my favorites.

And the skeleton is the glow in the dark prairie schooler one that I just finished this month.

Anyway I hope everyone has a Happy and Safe Halloween tonight! Don't let the ghosts and goblins get you!!!

I feel better now

OK last night I admit I was a little tired and may have been in the midst of a tantrum over not getting anything done. But today I feel better about it. I took my sewing machine in bright and early this morning and they managed to fix it in less than twenty minutes and it was still covered by the last time I had it in a month or so ago. Turns out I was using too heavy of a thread for my machine. Which is odd, it was Coats and Clark for "machine quilting" but I guess it is for use on the bigger machines. Who knew, thread is not really my thing, though I do love cross stitch thread!

I have put away my Autumn piece for next year, and assembled my supplies for the Angel ornament above. My sister loves angels and lions so I figured this was perfect. I bought it last October but didn't have time to even start it for Christmas. So this year I am being "scroogey" and not making anyone ornaments (I normally make one for each family member). I am only going to finish this one. And if it is done before Christmas I might make myself an ornament. Strangely enough after making dozens of ornaments I only have one tiny little x-stitch ornament on my own tree!

And this was a trip to the cross stitch store after all the money I "saved" with not having to pay to get my machine fixed. Just because I am not starting anything new doesn't mean I can't plan ahead, and at least they are all little projects.

Gobble Gobble....Squawk!!!!

Technically I think crows caw, not squawk, but squawk is more appropriate for my day. This is the little bit I got done on my Autumn piece this week, I finished the turkey in the upper left hand corner. And I think this is probably all I will get done on this one this year. I am getting bored with it and also a little overwhelmed and am admitting defeat that it will not be a finished project this year. I have had a frustrating day after a very stressful week. I had five little projects to finish today and none of them got done! The crow below is a little candle wrapper that I am having an impossible time finishing, I have ripped out the outside stitches and ribbons four or five times now, and finally decided I would just satin stitch around the edges with my sewing machine. So I pulled my sewing machine out only to have it completely seize up before I even got a stitch in. So bright and early tomorrow morning it will be heading back to the shop. I am a little frustrated since I just got it back a month ago for similar issues, but I think it will still be covered from the last visit so hopefully it won't be another $100 dollars out the door.

And this is the full picture of Autumn before it is put into hibernation for the winter. Considering I have only been working on it three-four months with lots of little projects in between I have gotten a good amount done. Now is just the filling in parts and of course the back stitching (Yuck!)

So in light of all the recent stress and frustration and also in anticipation of the upcoming holiday season I am drastically shortening my to do list. I have started to be overwhelmed with WIP's and don't want something I love to become a chore. So by the end of the year I want to finish my charity quilt for Margaret's hope chest, pink pinwheels for my daughter, and an angel ornament for my sister that I haven't even started yet!

And I can't not post a picture of the awesome needle-fold Sharlotte of the Happy Needle made. I won it off a give away from her blog. It arrived in the mail on Saturday and has received a much honored place on my stitching shelf so I can look at it often. I also mailed off my exchange piece for the Pink exchange on Hooked on Exchanging, so I am anxious to know if they like it or not. By the way taking a two year old to wait in line at the post office is a special kind of torture!! I don't think she will see the inside of a post office again until she is at least 25!

Charity Thwarted!

So while I was playing on the computer Monday I came across a blog called Margaret's Hope Chest. It is a charity dedicated to giving 400 quilts to homeless children in Grand Rapids Michigan for this winter. While I live nowhere near Michigan I am a sucker for anything benefiting children so I was immediately inspired. I cut/pieced this yesterday thinking it would be an easy pattern (I hadn't done it before). Well the directions were a little confusing but I did manage to get it mostly together in an afternoon so it was a quick pattern but maybe not easy.

So here comes the thwarted part...I was laying it out last night to decide on the final block arrangement when my husband wandered past and fell in love with it and started noticing how I have yet to make him a quilt. So I guess this one will wind up being his, but I am going to make one for the charity too. I actually have a more kid friendly fabric with yellow ducks/blue bubbles so I will start cutting that tonight and hopefully have the top done by Friday.
That was one of the things that excited me about this one is that I rarely make "boy quilts", most of my quilts revolve around my personal preference for pinks. The pic below is the border/backing fabric. It is a little lighter colored than the brown flowers in the quilt top, but I still think its neat how it is basically the same flower pattern. It is also a flannel so its all cozy and soft. I am not sure if I will use it for the binding yet...I may do the blue fabric that is to the left (and right) of the brown in the middle. And this is the progress I made on my cross stitch last weekend. I have this little section pretty much done except for the white banner over the top of it. I only have one more large section to do and then all the filling in bits. I am so trying to get this done this month so I can at least hang it up in November before I start Christmas decorating and put it away for the year. This is almost 3 maybe four years of stitching here (its a 14 x 18 piece), I am anxious to have it done!!

Mini-vacation

Kind of a busy week, but fun. We went to Arcosanti, which is kind of a commune (they call it an urban living experiment) here in AZ.

Mr. Stitcher is interested in it because he is all for converting our house to being totally green/environmentally friendly. So it was interesting seeing how they grew their own food and lived on only solar power with no cars. We stayed there overnight on Tuesday, the picture is the main building where they make the wind chimes/bells that they sell to tourists. We on the other hand slept down the hill in a cement bunker which I was just grateful had indoor plumbing. It was definitely an experience, and I think next time I get to pick the destination for our date day!

I got my second strip sewn for pink pinwheels, I am going to wait to sew all the strips together though until I have them all done so I can arrange them better. I laid out the inner border stripey strips with it also just to see what it would look like.

I also started the next little section of Autumn cross stitch. I know it doesn't look like much now, but I wanted to get a pic before the weekend because the weekend is when I do most of my cross stitching. So I am hoping to have the blue diamond totally done before Monday. What I have not gotten done is finishing my two Halloween ornaments or my exchange piece (I only have four more tiny flowers to sew on it I just haven't picked it up!)

I hope everyone has a great weekend. It is finally starting to feel like fall here. We can actually leave the windows open in the mornings when it stays in the low 80's, of course by the afternoon it is still in the upper 90's. I love though that its finally getting nice enough to go outside.