Last Update of the year!

Okay, first up, I'm participating in the "Grow Your BLog" party this year:

I plan on giving away a Mirabilla pattern, Persephone, as I have two of her accidentally and thought it may be a good thing to do.



*grins* Just in case people wanted proof that I indeed have two of them.

So! Stitchy stuff! *grins* I haven't been doing a lot of it because the daughter is 1 year old on December 14th! *throws confetti in the air* Hard to believe that she's so old. Where did the time go?

But I have managed to get some stitchery things done.



Her birthday fairy is almost done. Just have to finish the backstitching and then its on to the borders and her birth information. After that, it's just a matter of framing it to hang.



This may not look like much now, but it's a start of a ship sampler for my dad. I was farther along but had to rip out the sails because I was missing stitches somewhere and couldn't find out where.



This is a little Mill Hill bead kit that I am so very slowly finishing. *laughs* all that's left is beading and backstitching on this and then to figure out how to mount it on something. What, I don't know yet.

And I will finally leave you with two pictures of Gen sitting up in her daddy's office chair.

Small update

Just a small update since I haven't posted since earlier this month. Wow, where does the time go?

Managed to hit two belly dance classes this month, with last Thursday being the last one. We started learning a neat drum solo number that seems complicated until Zattana started breaking it down for us. *laughs* Then it was pretty easy. At least the first little bit I learned. I unfortunately am going to be missing belly dance class for at least two weeks if not a month for the simple reason that what I thought was either food poisoning or a stomach bug over the weekend turned out to be my gallbladder acting up enough that it needed to be removed. So, yeah. No belly dancing while the belly's still recovering from emergency surgery.

It honestly wasn't that bad. The surgeon and nurse both said that it was normally an outpatient procedure, but since I arrived via the ER (after hitting Urgent Care to see why that spot on my abdomen was still sore when everything else felt fine and the doc there told me to head to the ER so they could verify it was only my gallbladder and not appendicitis.) the hospital admitted me for the night, put me on fluids and antibiotics, and the next morning, my gallbladder was removed. My parents were worried about me (they live about two hours away), but I knew they were all right with the surgery when they showed up last night and my mom joked about "ranging shots" when she saw the three little incisions from the laparoscopic surgery. I'm doing all right, not doing any stitching at the moment because the pain killers make me a bit light headed when they kick in and I don't want to miss count anything. (They're the same ones prescribed back when I gave birth so I know they're good and non-addictive. Plus I only have to take them on an 'as needed' basis.)

Hopefully, I'll heal up quick and I'll be back to shaking my tail feathers and stitching up a storm.

Back to belly dancing

Tonight was my first time back to belly dancing in over a year and a half. Lordy, I forgot how much it was fun it was. I'm stiff and sore but all in a good way. There was only three of us in the class and all of us had belly dancing experience before so Zattana decided to forego the easy lesson she had planned as she had expected total beginners to attend the class. We did shimmies and shakes and had a blast.

I can't wait to go back next week and do it all over again!

An update, I hope

I just realized that I haven't updated in a while. Part of this is because my daughter's almost 9 months old and she's been keeping me on my toes. Another reason is that my old phone decided to overheat in an attempt to set my jeans on fire (not really but it was uncomfortable). So, I had to get a new phone that wasn't a so-called Smartphone.

To make matters even more fun, while I wasn't looking, Picasa, where I had went after Photobucket decided to act like a spaz, decided to change and now I have no idea how to add photos or if this will even work. So, here goes.

Last picture:



Latest picture:



As you can see, a lot more has been done to the December Fairy that will be my daughter's birth sampler.

I've also started two new patterns. One is a ship sampler for my father and the other is Mirabillia's Persephone.



This is the start of the sampler.



And the dozen stitches in Persephone.

and finally:



Three little guilty pleasures.

The first is a tombstone with two ravens, the second is a little Drac, and the third is an apple. I plan on making hair decorations out of them since I don't need magnets nor do I wear broaches too much.

Where Bloggers Create & TUSAL

I honestly forgot that Karen at My Desert Cottage was having a sort of party to showcase where bloggers created their things and blogged about them. So, here is a tour of my little (and I do mean little) corner of the house where I cross stitch and crochet. Excuse the mess, I'm not the neatest of people:



Here's my little corner. It's located in what we call our gaming room. Originally touted as the Master Bedroom, my husband and I decided to make it our gaming room where we can play board games and (most importantly to us) invite friends over for table top gaming. Our computer desks are here as well, making it sort of an office setting as well plus there's plenty of room for Gen to rattle around in now that she's crawling (although we do have to keep a closer eye on her since she's fascinated with cables).



The top is my stitching box holding threads for my current projects that came out of the general stash box. I have a few that I have specifically bought the thread for them, mostly my HAEDs. The bottom plastic tub has some of my general fabrics and some stitchery kits that I haven't gotten to yet. The middle tub just has some loose papers and things in it. At one time, that was my filing cabinet for my patterns.



My stitching cabinet with a few drawers open to show the things in it. The small plastic container on top is my traveling stitch kit. I take that to work with me since I offer free 5 minute stitching how to classes when a customer buys cross stitching things. It's mostly for beginners but if someone wants a few tips, I'm happy to share what I can with them. The green stitching box is the one that my one cat busted the lid off of by managing to pop the screws. I haven't gotten around to fixing it yet.



This is what the wooden stitching chest was suppose to replace but as you can see, I still have stitching projects in it. *laughs* I probably won't ever give this up and keep using it as well. It's currently sitting on top of my two drawer filing cabinet that holds my patterns and a few pattern books. No picture of that since I couldn't get a good one with it being black.



The view out the window to my right. It's not much of a view, just part of our roof and the large maple tree that's between us and the neighbors, but in the fall, that tree turns lovely colors.



The view from my desk where I do my stitching. It may not look like much now, but in the spring, those trees right there are dogwoods and redbuds. They're gorgeous, and I wish the blooms stuck around longer. It's also wonderful because this window faces west so I can watch the storms roll in.



My desk with my ORT jar off to one side. It may not look it, but I find I have plenty of room to stitch.

And speaking of ORT jars:



Here's my TUSAL for July! There are some threads in there from all sorts of projects.

ANd I'll leave you with a picture of the reason I don't have much stitching done and why the area is a bit of a mess. My supervisor who makes sure I'm doing what I should:

New stitching box!

My dad finished off my stitching box and he and my mom brought it over this evening!



A front view of it. It's study enough that I could sit on it and not worry about it collapsing on me.



The top drawer. Large enough I can probably fit my square foot q-snap frame in it without taking it apart.



Slightly blurred picture of the knobs. My mom picked these and the side handles out. Sorry 'bout the picture but I was taking them with my phone camera.



Side handles.



Gen in her bouncer next to the box for a size comparison. She's around 28" tall and 18 lbs here.

IHAS and TUSAL

Yes, this weekend was International Hermit and Stitch weekend, and while I didn't get any stitching done per se, I did get something stitchery related done. I spent Father's Day with my dad, playing in his wood working shop and getting more of my stitchery box done:



Two of the drawers in place.



The other drawers waiting to be assembled.



Assembling the sides of the drawers.



The drawer sides being held together for the glue to dry.



Just needs the knob on front and a bit of sanding on the top to be done.

All of the drawers need to be sanded on the top because when I was cutting the pieces with my dad's table saw (a first time for me) I didn't get all the pieces cut exactly so there's like a centimeter or two between the various pieces. I told my dad to go ahead and finish the box since it just needs that little fiddly bits for the drawers and then the knobs and side handles attached to be done.

On the stitching front, I have put together a small traveling stitch case to take with me to work to give free cross stitch lessons when someone asks. And as I won a small book of Oriental patterns by Joan Elliott from Sharine of charbella stitching, I decided to start one to relax in the evenings. She's only 4"x4" on 28 ct 2x2:



She's rather relaxing to stitch and my original plan was to make a bunch of these and put them on the cover of a notebook I had covered with fabric. Only I misjudged and the fabric was too pretty to cover. *laughs* That's what I get for buying pretty fabric. Next time, I'm going to do just plain fabric to attach my stitching to as presents for various people.

And finally, my TUSAL jar:

All sorts of postings

Here are the promised pictures but they have a bit more stitching on them than the last time. Consider this my WIPockalypse and my TUSAL post as well. Pardon the pictures. I had to take them with my cellphone as my computer doesn't acknowledge my camera at this time. I think I may need a new camera and memory card as the computer wants to format that whenever it's slotted into the computer.

First up is the December Fairy that is going to be the birth announcement for the daughter:



There is a sleeve, a wing, and most of her skirt. I changed one of the colors in the wing from Very Light Turquoise to Light Turquoise because I had originally misread the color number on it. I rather like it that way instead of lighter.

Then Oak Island Mystery, the one with the least amount done:



Have most of the rick in the upper left done and did a bit on the ocean at the bottom of the "beard".

And finally, Goddess of the Sea:



She now has a waist, part of her back, and I'm working on the shadows around the bust line. After that, I'm going to fill in the highlight because then it's just filling the whole thing in with a single color.

And finally, my TUSAL jar:



Very little stitching done since I emptied the jar back in March I think. Hopefully I'll be able to get more done in the future as there is now a nice nightly routine in the house. I get Genevieve down for the night and then stay up until around 11:30 (unless I'm wiped and then I go to bed with her) doing stitchery things or screwing around on the computer to unwind from the day before heading to bed. That's usually the latest she will wake up for a second time, not counting the stray middle of the night grumps due to a wet diaper and a bit of hunger. The middle of the night feedings are getting fewer and farther between and she's sleeping more through the night. Doesn't mean she won't get me up before the sun and keep me up however.

And speaking of the Diapered Diva (as a girlfriend nicknamed her), here's a few more pics of her at 5 months old for your enjoyment.

Wow...been a month

I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. I have done very little cross stitching (pictures to come later) and my ORT Jar was emptied for the birds to use for their nests. The little one has been much more active and that has taken away what little free time I have had. *laughs* I try to do what I can, but it has been over a week since I managed to even look at my stitching.

I was RAK'ed a very nice chart by someone named Prunella Puddlejumper out on the HAED FB page. *grins* She was nice enough to drop The History of HAED by Randal Spangler into my in-box, making me a very happy girl even though I have no idea when I'm going to be able to even think about starting it. I already have two HAED started, and another one kitted up to start plus my eye on Joan Elliott's latest design that's coming out later this month.

*sighs* So, where's that time turner when I need one to get all my stitching done?

Another update, finally

I feel like I'm updating once a month only. I'll try to get better with it, but when I only put a stitch or three in once a week if that, it doesn't seem worth it to update frequently. However! I have been working with my dad to create a large stitching box for my active WIPs and my miscellany stitching bits like needles, beads, hoops, and krenik.

This is the box as I had helped him build it. We had a blast working in his wood shop.







It was originally going to have 8 drawers and a 2" deep lid to hold my bits, but we discovered that the pocket screws would interfere with the bottom two drawers so we had to flip things, resulting in a large drawer at the top for stitchery things and the 8 drawers with "hidden" compartments on the bottom for anything I want to put there.

This is the box with my dad fooling around one day.







I know, you're going "But I count *5* drawers on each side! Not 4!" That's because that bottom panel isn't a drawer. The thin bits of board are the bottoms of the drawers.

The drawers aren't done, still needing assembly as well as knobs and the side handles put on it, but over all, that's what my stitchery box will look like when done.

IHAS update

Wow what a week. I did manage to get a bit of stitchery in over the weekend as it was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, but I didn't get much since Sunday, Hubby and I went out to see "OZ The Great and Powerful" followed by dinner with his parents who had babysat for us as well as got in some grandparent time.

One of my Facebook groups decided to have a WIP toss to motivate each other into continuing to stitch and possibly complete their projects. Here's mine:



They are Joan Elliott's Sea Goddess, HAED QS CLaire, HAED Four Heavenly Beasts, Oak Island Mystery, and Barbara Baatz's December Fairy. Some of them haven't been touched in a couple of weeks while one or two haven't been touched in a couple of months.

But as to what I actually worked on, it is Barbara Baatz's December fairy that I'm turning into a birth announcement for my daughter.



This is her left sleeve and part of her wing. The Krenick blending fillament will be added to the wings after they are all stitched because I think this makes them glitter more instead of mixing the thread and the filament together in the needle.

Also, Leslie at Under the Sea Fabrics finally got in the scissors and scissor fobs that many on her FB group preordered from her in February and I got mine in the mail yesterday.



These are the first pair of "novelty" scissors that I have bought with the intent of using, and they're actually very comfortable to use. The fob is a lovely strand of pearls and clear gray beads on a wire, and the large lobster claw means it can probably be used for something other than a scissor fob if you had a mind to dress something else up.

Snow Day!

This is the current view out my back window



And the view to my right. *grins* The local base closed today so Hubby's getting a snow day.

I've managed to get a little bit of stitching done during the brief naps, so this is also sort of a Wipockalypse update as well.



Oak Island Mystery has a bit more of the gray stone in the upper let corner.



And Sea Goddess has another shade of purple added to her cloak.

Also, I got this absolutely beautiful bit of fabric from Color Cascade Fabrics in Austrailia. She's also introduced a new fabric called Lucky Dips where she uses ice to dye the fabric. The process is facinating and the results are absolutely gorgeous. Between her and Under the Sea Fabrics here in the US, I have all the affoardable, hand dyed fabric I could ever want for my stitchery projects.