Mission accomplished!

I am participating in the Lizzie Kate exchange, and mailed off my piece today. It is such a relief to have it on its way! The mailing date was Feb 1st, so I got it done down to the wire. I have actually had my piece finished for a week now, I just really hate the post office. I don't think of myself as a procrastinator, maybe I'm in denial, but it is always such a relief for me to just have things finished.
This is my WIP for the week. I am hoping to have it done for springtime, I love the blue bunny on it. Whats funny though is I didn't use a single color it called for because they all looked so different from the cover of the chart which I really liked. On the cover the letters look purple, but then the threads were actually shades of grey which didn't seem springy at all to me. So I changed everything. Hopefully by my next post my bunny will have a head :)

Rain rain go away!!!

It's been raining for 2 days straight here, with a third day (at least) of more rain expected. And normally I love any kind of weather here (I live in a desert- the land of eternal sunshine). But this week I have been sore and grouchy and tired, and I am blaming it all on the weather. We have gotten four inches of rain so far (which yes to us desert reptiles seems like A Lot) and our 3 dogs are refusing to go out in the puddle our backyard has turned into. So four times today I have been forced to stand in our front yard with them (only slightly less puddley) and yell at each of them to "Go Potty"!!

My husband who got a weather station for xmas though is thrilled with all this weather, I dont think he's talked about anything but low pressure and barometers all week.

OK enough talk about the weather. Besides the grouchy mood (or maybe in spite of) I managed to clean off my dining room table. I now only have four boxes of stuff/debris left to sort through. Which almost seems manageable. What doesn't seem manageable is the amount of WIP's I have going. And whats funny/worse is I actually have more "finished...but not finished" projects than I have WIP's. In the assorted boxes I found 23 finished cross stitch projects ranging from small Lizzie Kate/Bent Creek ones to huge ones that I am done stitching but never framed/made anything out of! They have just been sitting in boxes since I finished them. So now in addition to lots of WIP's to get through I have lots of DBD's (done but not done's) to actually do something with.

These pics are of my first Done but not done finish. I stitched this two years ago and loved the design! I think it is a Dianne Arthur? And it has sat in a box since then, all I needed to do was cut it out (it's stitched on the plastic canvas stuff), and sew the ends together. So in anticipation of Spring (especially this week with this gross weather) I pulled it out and put it together. It's a candle wrapper, I'm not sure if you could tell from the other pics. Anyways 1 down, 22 more to go!

I've got it under control...really!

So this is my work in progress craft pile. Underneath of it is a very nice dining room table, that we haven't seen since Christmas. Also underneath of it is the 500 pieces of dollhouse that my husband is putting together for our daughter. I called in sick from work last night, and literally went to bed right after dinner. Well the extra rest must have done me some good because I woke up this morning with a new zeal for my resolutions. So far I have managed to sort out all my quilting stuff from the pile, and now all that left is my cross stitch (at least 20+ WIP's are buried among this) and my drawing stuff.

Another blog I follow had mentioned "The Fly Lady" on her blog a week or two ago, and after checking out her website and totally being in that place, I have been kind of getting into her whole system of cleaning. The Fly Lady's big thing is to do a little at a time and not to get overwhelmed. Which is exactly what I tend to do, to go all out for a day or two and then be so exhausted I can't/don't organize for another month. I wish I was better at the organizing part, I love reading Spinster Stitcher's blog (she and her dog are SO FUNNY!), and looking at the pics of her perfectly organized craft room. So I am doing a little at a time, and trying not to start anything new until I can see my dining room table again.

This last pic is of a Lizzie Kate x-stitch I did for an exchange that has to be mailed out for February. I figured something Valentines would do nicely, but I changed my mind. I stitched it one over one, and it turned out really small (duh!!!) so I figured I wanted to do something more substantial. Maybe this will get turned into a card for Mr. Stitcher or something. And yes I am ripping out the white edging on it still cause for some reason it didn't agree with me, the brown of the fabric was showing through the white too much. Hope your weekend is off to a great start, and wish me luck keeping this cold at bay!

How are your resolutions going?...or are they already gone?

OK, it's been a busy year for me so far, and I feel like I have barely gotten anything accomplished! I made three resolutions this New Years. The first one was to be healthier (i.e. lose 50 pounds, work out more, and eat less sweets). I have been doing a little better on the eating healthy part (baby steps...baby steps...I must keep reminding myself to put down the Hershey bar!). On the working out part of it I have been running 4 times a week (I've ran 20 miles already this year!) And I've also been using the Nike+Ipod thing to track my runs and am doing a challenge with a friend on Nike's website (I'm kicking her butt...I can't help it I'm competitive). The losing 50 pounds part of the resolution is sad to say kicking my butt though, I don't think I'm fat but I am definitely chubby. I keep losing then gaining the same 5 pounds over and over again. Sigh...I keep reminding myself that I'm not 20 years old anymore, the kids don't care how big my thighs are, and when I was 20 I also had 2 free hours everyday to spend at the gym, now if I did that my family would report me missing!

My second resolution is whats been keeping me so busy, it was to be more organized. And man is it a lot of work to be organized!!! Does the Hoarders show scare the bejesus out of anyone else?! It gives me new motivation to keep on going. I have been sorting through my craft stuff and so far have filled 25 16 qt plastic tubs with stuff. I keep telling myself when it is all done it will be so nice to know where everything and have everything labeled and stacked up nice and neat. I dream of some day have a studio all to my own, but right now I have settled for the hall closet.

My third resolution was to be more creative. And I have yet to figure out the logistics of this one. I can't start anymore projects without blowing my second resolution..so maybe I should focus on finishing more projects. I also want to work on my drawing/painting/making stuff up from scratch more.

The pictures above are my projects for the year. The Love one is a Lizzie Kate design I changed the colors on cause I love the over-dyes. I plan to make a little pillow for Valentines day, as I never finished my penguin pillow for winter and still have my Fall harvest pillow out cause I love it so much and can't bear to put it away for the season. The other pic is Walk in the Woods which is actually almost done, just the bottom border and the nest to finish. And the top pic is of a new quilt top/wall hanging I started that I almost have all together already. I'm not sure I'm loving the colors yet, as they look so different from the one in the book. But the fabrics called to me in the quilt shop so I figured it's a small piece if I hate it I can make it again with other colors.

Merry Christmas!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!! I am so excited for tomorrow! My kids are still at the "eyes all aglow" age and still really really believe in Santa Claus. It is so fun to get to see them be so into the true joy of the season. We finished up a few ornaments tonight (the wooden kind you paint from Michael's) and then drove around looking at Christmas lights. This is our Christmas tree this year.

And this is my little mouse ornament, the only one I have made for myself..... Next year I will have more I swear (if only it wasn't so much fun to make them for other people!)

This is a little snowman one that was made for me by a friend. Everyone always assumes I made it since I do so much stitching. So yes I have a total of two x-stitched ornaments on my tree. But lots of homemade ones by my girls which are really my favorites anyways. Hallmark just can't match an inspired toddler with some glue and love thrown in the mix.And this is my little bit of progress on walk in the woods. Only five more letters left to go, I am hoping to have it done by the end of the year. It has been so much fun to stitch.
I hope everyone has a wonderful blessed holiday tomorrow. MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and to all a good night!

Math...you are no friend of mine :(

Yet again my math skills have led me astray. My sweet (and more technically minded husband) even made me a chart on how big I needed to cut my squares for this pillow. Its the same size/design as my Harvest Blessing pillow but I wanted to "frame" the little penguins in the snowflake fabric and somehow it did not come out right. I cut most of my fabric today and am going to sew it together tomorrow once i figure out where I went wrong, and possibly re-cut half of what I did today...sigh. Hopefully it will turn out super cute and be worth all this math.

This is the Debbie Mumm fabric I used from Jo-Ann's. The fabric decided me on making this years Bent Creek snow globe as I realized the little polar bears would work great with the polar bear snow globe. So that will be my pillow for next Christmas and then I will have matching pillows for each side of my couch. Plus this leaves me a whole year to get it done!



Here is my little bit of progress on walk in the woods. Only eight more letters left to go. I am really loving this design, and its pretty easy since the letters are only one color so there is not that much switching threads around. I had thought about doing the letters in Weeks thread so they would be a little more colorful, but I like the way this is turning out with just DMC. I am excited to hang this on my wall. It has been a pretty quick one, I have only been working on it for about a week and a half now.

Hope every one's week is starting off well. Wish me luck on finishing my pillow this week! I'll definitely post a pic once its done (if you don't see it again that means I got frustrated with all that math and it was placed at the bottom of my sewing box never to be seen again)

No I didn't fall off the planet!!

I haven't blogged in a month, and I feel so guilty! I also feel like the month of November ran me over with a snow plow! It went by so quick, and it felt like I was sooo busy. We spent the week of Thanksgiving up north at a place called Hannigan's Meadow in a cozy log cabin. We cooked Thanksgiving dinner up there, and the kids got to play in the snow and the woods. The pictures below are of our family in front of the log cabin we stayed in.



We saw lots of elk, and my youngest
thought they were reindeer.
My oldest, who is definitely a city child, was worried to go in the
woods because she thought the bears would eat her. It was very pretty but I am glad we don't live somewhere that snow boots and mittens are needed. It took fifteen minutes just to get them in and out the door!

I have been a busy stitcher though, this is a new one I started called "Walk in the Woods". It is an old one by Cross Eyed Cricket published in 1996. I saw it in my LNS and loved it, I am not sure I would have bought it if I hadn't seen the stitched model. Sorry it's so wrinkly I just took it out of it's hoop to get the pic of it.

This is my failed x-mas project for my sister.
I am starting to think it is just not meant to be.
The picture on the left is the actual chart cover. The THREE pieces on the left are all of my failed attempts at doing it.

I started with the perforated paper that came in the kit. It said to use 3 strands of thread, and 2 strands + 1 strand of Krenlik for the sparkly parts. Well perforated paper is not meant to withstand all that thread and I now have a hole in the middle of my design that I can fit my pinkie through! So I started over on even weave using 1 strand of thread, and 1 strand + Krenlik for the sparkly parts. Well it quickly became to tight to stitch, so finally I started over AGAIN on Aida. Which was actually going okay until I lost the chart somewhere in transport between home and work (I'm lucky enough to get a little stitching done during the slow parts of my job). So now until I find the stupid chart again (cause there is no way I am buying this one again) it will be left as a UFO. I'm just glad I actually bought my sister a gift just in case, so at least I have a backup in case I never find the chart. UuuuuuGgggggggHhhhh!!!

This is Bent Creek snow globes penguin I started last year. I just had to finish the snow at his feet, so I got him done last week, and am planning to make him into a pillow like I did with the Harvest Blessing one in Fall. I like him, but I used DMC instead of Weeks, so his scarf didn't turn out as cute as the chart, also the chart used a darker blue fabric in the background so the snow showed up a little better. Next time I'll know better. I love the polar bear one from this year, but not sure I like it enough to want to pay $24 bucks for the kit.

And this is the Lizzie Kate one I am making for my own tree. I only have one tiny 1" by 1" mouse ornament for my own tree, so I decided I would make an ornament from now on each year for my own tree, since I have made tons of ornaments for my brothers and sister but never keep any for myself. Also the mouse ornament is my favorite one each year to get out of the ornament box, just because its homemade.

Last but not least this is the Pink Exchange piece finally finished into a beaded necklace. I was a little bummed my partner didn't post a pic on the Hooked on Exchanging website. So I wanted to post a pic of it here. It turned out to be 1.25" by 1". It was a Little House needleworks design stitched one over one on 30ct linen. I almost wanted to keep it for myself! I might make have to make it again.

Well I hope everyone holiday stitching is going well. I promise not to wait another month between posts!! :)