I'm ahead! No wait I think i'm behind.....

Really I am not sure what I am today. Still trying to keep up with the Crazy January Challenge, and doing a good job on the stitching just not on the posting. So today I present you the last four days of the challenge, plus 1 extra (so technically I think that makes me ahead, right?!?)
First at the top is off of an old Prairie Schooler chart #51 Garden Beasties. I changed the colors on Mr. Snail to a periwinkle purple and his body I am going to do in greens. This was my day 5 stitch.

Next up is another Mirabilia, Petal Fairy. If I can get her done in time I would love to have her framed by spring. I remember Halloween Fairy stitching up pretty quickly so I hope she is the same. I hand dyed the evenweave. I saw a picture online of it done in this color and loved how it made the yellows and pinks in her dress stand out so well. She was day 6, I tried to plan to work on the Mirabilias on the weekends, so I would have more time to give them.

Day 7 was a smaller Lizzie Kate. I wanted to mix in smaller pieces since I promised myself I would not add any new projects into the rotation until I finished something. I also thought about saying I would stitch something from the same designer I finished, but since half my list is Bent Creek I worried that might get boring. I am also going to try and keep them in order to work on, so each should get about 2 days a months if I keep up the 15 project rotation. I know it's a complicated system even for my little brain.

This is what I worked on today, Day 8. Spooky Row by Bent Creek. I love the rows because they are generally quick for me to finish. I hand dyed the linen again, it turned out a little lighter than I had hoped. I was going for a Frankenstein green, and it came out more pastel green. I am hoping once I stitch it with all the dark colors and add a dark frame I will like it a little more.

And this is my +1 day, day 9 started early. It is a Hands to Work design. Another designer I don't stitch too often. I liked that I could personalize it with our names. I have the best boyfriend ever, as yesterday he patiently waited while I spent a very excited hour in my LNS ooohing and aaahhing over all the new designs I hadn't seen since I hadn't been in there since pre-Thanksgiving. So this one was picked out for him. It also edged out another Prairie Schooler design from my list, so I spent part of this afternoon editing my list and will need to get it posted to my sidebar somewhere. Perhaps that can be my goal for next post, I hate fussing with the blogger gadgets.

day 4 Give Thanks started

This is a Dianne Arthur's peice again, "The Lord's Blessing". Another Autumnal peice. As with the Halloween start hopefully this one will be done in time to hang up for the season. I am stitching it on Aida, which I have gotten away from using, and it is so crinkly and stiff that it's scratching up my arms. Hopefully it will soften up a little soon.

And this is my 5 year old learning how to sew. My oldest made a Hello Kitty purse, and entered it into the state fair last year. Well of course anything big sister does, little sister has to do too. Besides keeping the yarn on the needle, she did pretty good. I had to promise her she would get to enter it into the state fair this year. I think she was a little jealous last year when both mommy and big sister won ribbons, and all she got was a ride on the carousel and some fry bread at the fair.

New Years resolutions

This is my day 3 project for the Crazy January Challenge, being posted on day 4. I stayed up until the wee hours working on it last night, and by the time I was done stitching I didn't have the energy for posting. It is "Sea-ology" by the Trilogy. Another designer I don't stitch very often. This challenge is expanding my stitching repertoire. I like the color I chose for the crab, I was debating between this one or a brighter red like "liberty" or "Louisiana hot sauce" by Weeks.

So this morning I started in on one of my New Years resolutions. They are pretty much the same as last years: Be more Organized, Be more Healthy, and Be more Creative. I was working on the healthy one this morning. My 8 year old asked if she could ride her bike to school, and I thought I would run next to her pushing the jogging stroller with my 5 year old in it. It's about 8 blocks to her school, making it a 2 mile round trip. Easy workout right? What I didn't factor in was that I normally ride my own bike next to her, and the last time I was on foot while she rode was when she was 5 and had just gotten her training wheels off and I was holding on to the back of her bike so she wouldn't tip over. A motivated 8 year old is WAY FASTER than a wobbly five year old. WAY FASTER!!! So this morning I looked like exactly what I was: a slightly out of shape -sweaty -30-something mom -about to have a heart attack while trying to keep her New Years resolution. By the time we made it to the school I was too out of breath to even say good morning to the crossing guard. But it did motivate me to keep lacing up my Reeboks until I can make it look easy (or I really do keel over in a sweaty mess on the sidewalk). Really whichever comes first.

Day 2, project 2

And this is Day 2 of the Crazy January Challenge. It's "Thine is the Trick and the Treat" by Prairie Moon designs. I have never stitched one of their designs before, but I saw this last Halloween at the Spinster Stitcher's blog, and loved it. I also love her blog, she is so funny (and her little dog Stewey too). Anyway I figure this will be nice to have in a rotation since I tend to get bored just doing on color, and this is a whole lot of DMC 310.

I hand dyed the evenweave for it last night, and managed to splash a bit on my shirt. So later that evening as i'm changing into my jammies, I am looking at my belly and wondering how I got that huge purple bruise. It took me a few seconds before I realized I had also managed to hand dye myself in the process. I like the color the linen turned out, it's not as blue as the picture makes it look.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is having a great start to their New Year. Mine started with getting ready for work this morning, stepping out of the shower after washing my hair, and having all the power go off. So today, all day long at work, I have looked like I was out way too late partying. When the truth of it is I was sound asleep long before any balls dropped or fireworks went off. Sigh, hopefully this isn't indicative of the rest of my year.

So I have started a new challenge. Something I have never participated in before. I joined the Crazy January Challenge 2012 Yahoo group. I know, like I need to start anymore projects. I was surprised (well not really) at how easy it was to pick out all the charts I wanted to start. Here is my list, modeled by my elderly black lab.

And here is my first new start of the new year. This is the brand new just released Mirabilia chart "Golden Apples". I have stitched 2 other Mirabilias over the years (Halloween fairy/Shakespeares fairies) but never finished either. Not for lack of enthusiasm for either chart, maybe for lack of skill/patience. You may notice on my list I have 2 Mirabilia's planned to start. Finger's crossed at least one of them gets finished.

Remember last year when I asked everyone what stitching the face "over one" meant on a Mirabilia? Well I am going to be brave and try it on both. I figure it's a small-ish area and DMC thread, so what have I got to lose?

Christmas-time

I don't know about you, but a part of me, after having a very wonderful Christmas is just glad it's over. I love Christmas, giving presents, decorating, lights, music, Santa and his reindeer. It is all so nice when its chilly and dark outside to have it be so festive inside. But a little part of me is looking forward to taking down all the lights and decorations, finding homes for all the new presents, packing the ornaments away carefully in their boxes, and taking down the tree. A part of me is looking forward to the New Year and a fresh start and new goals and moving forward from what has been a stressful year with lots of changes (good and bad). A part of me looks forward to spring time, and new gardens, and open windows, and warmth.

These are my very last minute finishes for Christmas ornaments.


These two are of my oldest's ornament. It is from Lizzie Kate's 6 fat men series. Of course with some color changes, and additional beading for his eyes and buttons

This was made for my sweetie. It is a Bent Creek Flair chart. I liked it because it's not Christmas-y so he can hang it somewhere year round. Again, I probably changed every single color I could. I liked the thread I used to border the cloud gave it a silver lining.
And this is my youngest's ornament. It is a San Man freebie. My youngest loves penguins,she calls them penguino's. Anyway we had a great Christmas, I hope your families did too!

John Lennon = persona non grata in my house

At our house we have been playing non-stop Christmas music since before Thanksgiving. I can't help it, it's so cheerful and there's nothing inappropriate for little ears to hear. Well little did I know that Christmas music, specifically the John Lennon "Happy Christmas/War is over" could lead to a boat load of questions. As it was playing last week I mentioned that John Lennon was killed in December the year after mommy was born. I wish I had never said anything, I didn't think they were even listening. But of course instead, this led to the question of how/why/what happened??? And now every time it plays they re-ask me the whole story and are oddly/morbidly fascinated by it. And it is really hard to delicately explain "crazed gunman" to a child. We have even had to google/wikipedia it, because when I told my 8 year old I didn't know why she told me she was sure Google would know. So now that is the one song I wish they would stop playing on the radio, not that it's not a perfectly lovely song. Also the pic of John Lennon/Yoko Ono that is featured at the top of the wikipedia page on John Lennon, you know that famous one by Annie Leibovitz, while also lovely--not so appropriate for children.

And these two angels are part of the embarrassing number of Christmas ornaments I have started and will never ever finish all of this season. I love the simplicity of the two colors. I am using a Krienik gold thread for their halos/stars/belts, and a navy blue Weeks thread for their gowns instead of the traditional black. The top one is done/framed in a cute little frame I found in a thrift store for $2. The bottom one is an almost done WIP. My goal is to someday do all of them.

I hope all of you out there are having a "Happy Christmas" season.

P.s.... its 64 degrees here in Phx today, so if you can see snow from your window i'm a little bit jealous.