Last post of 2012

Well, I have to confess that I'm impressed with myself for keeping up with this blog for an entire year. I normally can't keep up with a diary so for me, this is impressive.

As this is the last post of the year, I first thought about doing a review of all my stitchery, but didn't want to flood this post with pictures. So here's just the latest that I have along wtih a few new starts.



First up is my ORT jar. It looks only partially full but it's a years worth of stitchery in there along with memories of each project finished, frustrated with, and started with a smile.



This is a new start that I began before I went into the hospital to be induced. It's Joan Elliot's "Sea Goddess" and I'm looking forward to completing this one as it's for me and not anyone else!



Oak Island Mystery has some more color added to it and it will be (hopefuly) completed this upcoming year so I can send it out to the intended recipient.



I signed up for a SAL on one of my facebook groups and this is my SAL project. I have all the floss and the fabric and I look forward to starting this one as well. *grins* Being a Yami no Matsuei (Descendants of Darkness) fan, I'm going to really enjoy stitching the Four Heavenly Beasts.



This is the new stitchery box my hubby bought me for Christmas as Bacchus managed to pop the lid off my old one. It's actually larger than my old one and I really like it.



The inside of my box, all ready to use.



and finally, this is my attempt at getting organized this year with my WIP. Each drawer, minus the very bottom one, is a WIP. In descending order: QS Claira, Kwan Yin by Jessica Galbrath, Four Heavenly Beasts, Map of Middle Earth, and Oak Island Mystery. The bottom drawer has my beads, blending threads, and a couple of hoops right now.

No IHAS this weekend....

I was going to do an IHAS weekend, but I ended up a bit busy...



As you can see, there is a new eddition to the family. She was born on Friday, December 14 at 11:55am. I went in to be induced as she was a big girl at 8lbs 15oz and 22 1/4 inches long.

We're all home now, and doing fine.



The happy daddy with baby Genevieve Tatianna and momma.

Have to share.

As I have time off from work, I've decided to dedicate a lot of my time to stitchery stuff. So first up is a pleasantly piratical gentleman:



The green will have a half stitch of glow in the dark fillament over it, but at least now you can see what will "glow" and is part of the "mystery" of Oak Island.

Next, I have to share this because it's cute!

See, my little boy Bacchus decided there was something outside the window that he had to see Right Now! when he hopped up on my computer desk. I was expecting him to stel around my TUSAL jar like usual but instead, he stepped in it, resulting in this:



A pawprint among the threads *snickers*. So, my threads have been smashed down by a well meaning kitty cat. Of course, this is the same cat that managed to pull my lid off of my stitching box. The lid was open and he decided he wanted to get up on my desk via the box. So he jumped up on the lid. I was expecting it to close, but he managed to snag it in just a way that it popped the screws holding the lid on that were under the fabric out of the plywood/cardboard-like material it is made out of. I'm just very thankful he didn't flip the whole thing over as it is situated next to a furnace grate. I really didn't want to lose my needle threaders or beads down that.

Half a brain...

If I had half a brain, I think I'd be dangerous right now. *laughs* It's about two weeks before the baby's due and if I can think without lists, I'd be surprised. So once more, a combined WIPockalypse post (two days early) and a TUSAL post (two weeks late).



First up is Pirate Treasure: Oak Island Mystery, and that touch of red in the green is part of the date there. I'm doing all of one color (or as much as I can right now) because all of that is getting stitched over in a half stitch of glow in the dark blending filament.



Next is a bit more of QS CLaire. It's a bit more slow going because despite stitching entirely in black, it's 1x1 on 28 ct and there are days I just don't need the headache even if I want the stress break.



Not much more has been done with the Haunted Mansion, but it's a fun thing to poke at.



And finally, my TUSAL jar. I know you can't see much of the green that is Oak Island and only a bit of black that is Claire, but it's going to start growing again. I promise!!!

TUSAL and WIPockalypse

Yeah, I'm behind on my TUSAL post, but considering this month just vanished on me plus I'm getting things ready for the baby, I'm slightly distracted.

So, here's the TUSAL picture:



All that pink and green is the last of the commission piece and the slightly darker bits on top of that, is the little bit of the Haunted Mansion that I've been working on:



There's now part of a tree next to the house with some clouds above it. *grins* I'm going to enjoy working on that. I also put about ten stitches in Clara, but I didn't feel it was enough to take a picture of. Mayber next time.

The Commission Piece...

.... IS FINISHED!!!!






excuse the slightly fuzzy pictures, but I was taking the pictures while it was laying flat on my table.

Now to get back to what I want to do. Of course, this did teach me a great deal about commission work and what I need to set firm in the future for any other comission pieces.

Important Commission update!

After much work, I am pleased to announce:



The couple is done!!! Now all that's left is the arch of flowers and the names and date at the bottom!

October WIPockalypse

Okay I'm trying something new to see how well it works. It's Picasa which is Google's photosharing page and hopefully it will work since I'm getting very tired of Photobucket and their multitude of glitches.



First up is a pattern I totally blame Demeter for at Sense and Stitchability. This is QS Clara from HAED and all the black in her is perfect when one has a three hour doctor's visit. (It was the gestational diabetes test I had to take and that involved sitting around for three hours while they sucked me dry of blood.) Clara here is being stitched x1 on 28 ct Aida and yes, I'm insane for doing it that way. *grins* But she's going to be a bribe for someone to convince them to follow their dreams instead of letting others drag them down again.



Tada!! On the Commission front, the bride and groom both have heads, are mostly backstitched (totally in the Groom's case)and I've started on her hair piece and flowers. Then it will be the arch of flowers above them, name and date and I can call the lady to exchange the picture for cash. Woohoo!!



And finally, the traveling baby blanket is done! Now to just get it to the recipient while starting a new one for myself. Originally, I was going to claim this, but I didn't like how all that green was sort of splotched on there. I thought there was going to be more pale green and blue than what was really there. Ah well. *grins*

September IHAS and TUSAL post

I apologize if the pictures this time look a bit odd, but I had to tak them with my phone camera as my regular camera is being used for work purposes. My boss has finally relented and is letting us set up an Ebay store to sell the craft books that are not moving in the store. So, I'm the one taking all the photos of the books in question to do a massive upload as the goal is to "open" the virtual store on Oct. 1.

To my shame *snickers* I found myself purchasing a couple of HAED patterns. I blame Demeter at Sense and Stitchability for Clara finding her way into my cart followed quickly by Rochelle. This is unusual for me because I normally don't go for the "cartoonesque" patterns at HAED, but these two were just lovely. Also for those that didn't know, there is now an Official HAED Stitchers Group out on Facebook as started by Michele herself. It's interesting and I joined as quickly as I could.

I didn't get as much stitching done this weekend as I wanted. I mean, hubby was away playing with his friends all weekend, leaving jsut me and the cats. Perfect time to start stitching right? Saturday, I started the commission piece, hoping to at least get the dress done, and I spent fifteen minutes putting stitches in before spending another fifteen tearing those same stitches out. So I worked a bit on the groom, settled the frustration down a bit, and then managed to restitch the sleeve and back. Finished all but three white stitches at the top of her sleeve *dances*. Also talked with the lady I'm doing this for. I told her I'd reached hour 60 on this, and that what I can do is throw the hours out, we agree on a fair price for it, and that's it, or I keep counting hours and present her with a final bill. She decided to agree on a price, and I have to confess that it's much more relaxing now that I don't have to track every minute of this.



Haven't done the confetti filled flowers yet which is in her hand and arched above them, but I'm getting there. Honest!

Officially, this is the only piece I worked on during the weekend, but the next two, I worked on at the doctor's office. I had to go in for my week 28 work, which was a diabetic test. I have no idea what the premise behind this is other than to get the baby as wired as possible on sugar so they're beating up on Mom for the rest of the day, but after drinking about half a can of soda syrup cut with sugar water (only way to describe the taste, I swear), I had to sit around for an hour until they were ready to tap a vein. So, knowing this in advanced, I took my Mill Hill kits with me as they went along very nicely in my stitching box.



Didn't get much done on the Haunted Mansion, but then I picked it up when I got tired of doing the Moonlit Kitties.



One of the kitties has finally put in an appearance, and it's slow going because every other stitch is a bead, so he's a bit like a checker board there.

Now my TUSAL jar. As you can see, a lot of whites and creams because of the dress. A bit of gray there is mostly from the groom, but the oranges and browns are from Kitties.



An idle question for those that add pictures to your journals (which is like everyone I know and follow): What do you use? Photobucket recently seems to have more bugs than a flophouse apartment, and I'm getting tired of it locking up on me all the time or just not working (which is why my pics are so large when compared to the others).

Now with Pictures!

*grins* Yes, I now have those pictures I promised a couple of days ago:


The commission piece. As you can see, Butt Bow has been achieved! Now it just needs the backstitching to be done to really make it stand out. More of the skirt is filled in too.


Next up is the Moonlit Kitties. More of the orange sky has been added as well as the little house. *grins* And typical me, somehwere in the top couple lines of that sky is an extra stitch.....


And after much difficulty and fighting with photobucket, the begining of "Haunted Mansion". This is the gabel over the front window.

Small Labor Day update

Well, I was going to upload pictures but Photobucket's being a pain with their matienance going on, so pictures will have to come later.

First off, I managed to get even more of the skirt done on the commission wedding piece, but best of all.... the butt bow is done! It needs backstitching but it's done! Now I can adjust the skirt shades in and around it to fill as needed. Woohoo!!! (Mainly because I can't take the time to tear everything out to redo the entire thing to locate the stitches I've lost/gained in the skirt.)

Next, I've worked a bit more on my Mill Hill kit "Moonlit Kitties" and true to form, I managed to pick up a stitch somewhere so that's going to be a bit of adjusting there. *shrugs* Ah well. It wouldn't be one of my pieces if I didn't have a stitching mistake somewhere in it. *laughs* I've also started another Mill Hill kit. This one I'm gonna have to be really careful with as it's called "Haunted Mansion" and it's a picture of a haunted house complete with Glow in the Dark thread. *grin* It looks really fun even if it's going to drive me nuts with the stitching.

Now a fun stitching story. I work at a little Mom'n'Pop craft store. A couple of months back, I had a customer come in to brouse our Oriental patterns and she commented that she had some cross stitch kits that had never gotten off the ground because she wasn't sure exactly how to start them and complete them. I told her at that time that if she ever wanted, come back in when I'm working and I'd give her a free cross stitch lesson. (One of the other employees apparently had been less than helpful with the advice of "You just make an X with the thread.") Well, she called today to see if I was in and if I had time to help her. I told her to bring her new kit in, and I'd explain what I did, and she could modify that to her tastes. So, she brought her kit in, and I gave her about ten minutes worth of advice as well as a quick demonstration on this kit I had purchased for just such a thing. She was very grateful and I told her to feel free to give me a call or stop in when I was working and I'll be happy to help her out at any time. She promised she would, if only for the backstitching.

So, I'm glad I got to introduce someone to cross-stitching basics, and I hope she has a great deal of fun with her new hobby.

August WIPockalypse Take Two & return to Belly Dancing

First up is my WIPockalypse/IHAS report. *hangs head* Yeah, I've been bad about not posting it, but in my defense, my computer decided to self destruct via virus and I had to get a new one.

So first up is Moonlit Kitties:



Didn't get a whole lot done that weekend and things have been up in the air enough that I haven't had a chance to do any more stitching on these since that weekend. Mostly because I've had a hard time concentraiting due to pregnancy and exhaustion.

Now that commission that I'm wondering is jinxed at this point. It seems like for every three stitches I put in, I'm tearing out five.



Here it is as of today. *sighs and shakes head* I haven't even started on the nitty gritty flowers or even charted the names and date.

On a better note (for me at least), my work schedule has let me return to my belly dancing class, and last night I had a blast! I was the only one in the Beginning Technique class, which was fine as my teacher decided to drill with zills. *laughs* My arms were tired by the end, and we only did a little bit of veil work. The veil I have is a bit heavier than a chiffon so that didn't help the arm soreness either.

It will be fun to get back into that again.

Anonymous Post Disabled

Because I'm getting tired of the anonymous posts trying to sell me Viagra or whatever other drugs they can think of at the time, my anonymous posts for comments will be disabled until further notice. If you have an open ID you can still post, but you gotta have an ID of some kind to post.

TUSAL and IHAS weekend

Wow, a two for one weekend!

First up is the TUSAL post. *grins* Yes there are two jars. The short one is for the commission piece and the tall one is my usual jar. The dark brown and bright yellow in the usual jar is part of Mill Hill's "Moonlit Kitties" that I completely tore out and restarted since I originally started too far from the edge. That problem has been fixed.



Next is the Moonlit Kitties in person. *grins* When I originally started this, it was going to be my first preforated paper project and I didn't know how to find the center. I have since corrected that mistake and started with the moon part as it was near the center.



And finally, the commission piece as it is right now.



The groom as put in an appearance off to the side, there's a bit more backstitching on her skirt, and I pray I can get her skirt totally done for this weekend so I can concentrait on fixing the bow mistake (don't ask. I have no idea where that mistake is in that bow)and getting it closer to complete. My goal actually at this point is to have this done by Sept 1st or as close to it as humanly possible without working myself into a stroke. I am not looking forward to all the backstitching in the floral arch or her bouquet.

Weekend of stitchery!

I just spent a fabulous weekend stitching. But look at what I got done on the commission piece!



My apologies for the funky picture but my flash didn't wanna work so I ended up doing a small bit of photoshopping to actually *show* the picture itself. I am breaking one of my small, personal rules here about only doing all backstitching when the regular stitching is complete, but I got tired of losing the bottom of the dress there.

As for where all this work got done, that happened here:



This is our second floor covered porch. It wasn't screened in when we bought the place, but considering Bacchus decided to jump from it to the front door porch roof one day and then into the dogwood right there the next time, I talked my dad into coming over one weekend and the two of us screened it in in a couple of hours. I then treated him to lunch at Cracker Barrel.

You can just see my two "helpers" in this picture. Sephiroth is partially hidden behind the pattern on its metal board while Bacchus is sitting on the far side of the table. *grins* They're esctatic to keep me company out there since it's the closest they come to getting outside.

There's only a card table and folding chairs out there right now, plus some extra screening and some bits of wood that have to go out into the garage, but I'm hoping to get a nice picnic table out there with chairs that don't turn your butt numb after a couple of hours.

Also, if anyone goes back to look at my older posts, they will notice that my finished pictures are missing. That's because I've moved them to their own album and am going to see about making a slideshow out of them on the side. I've seen that on other blogs and it looks really neat.

Another Three in One Post

Yes, I'm lousy at blogging. Or at least keeping up to date. *laughs* First off, is a combination of the WIPockalypse and IHAS since I haven't touched this since IHAS: This is the commission piece. As you can see, I've added some beading to it to give it a bit more bling than the blending filament would have since it was only suppose to be one strand of filament to two strands of thread. And my TUSAL jar for July with the pattern in the background to show how much I've gotten done on it. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep track of my blog a bit more and write a bit more, but it's easy to lose track of the days anymore. *Grins* I confess I'm normally a flutter-brain, but toss in a pregnancy and I'm lucky I can function most days without a detailed list.

WIPockalypse and TUSAL update in one

Can summer slow down a bit please? I'm having a hard enough time trying to hold on to my stitching mojo as it is without the month's vanishing on me! Okay for my WIPockalypse, I just have the commission Wedding piece to show: It's on 28 count antique white evenweave (my first time doing this small of a count) and it's over 2 which makes it even more fun. That's how much of the pattern I have done, marked off with orange highlighter. *grins* as to what the pattern's on, that's an old "magnetic poetry board" which stands up really nicely and I don't have to worry about felines laying on the pattern, thus forcing me to either move them or put the stitching up for a while. And now my traveling TUSAL jar: As you can see, not much, but that's all the wedding pattern there. Hopefully, I'll get the days to slow down, but I am really looking forward to this weekend when my only plan is going to a Circle of rhiannon Hafla down by Cincy to meet up with my dancing friends. *rolls eyes* My boss apparently took my announcement that I'm expecting to mean that I'm not dancing anymore so she's been scheduling me late on Thursdays. Frankly, the only class I was going to drop was the Intermediate Choreography since I wouldn't be able to perform with any of the ladies until after the baby's born, but working as late as I am on Thursdays means I'm missing my Beginner Technique class. Major Bummer.

Still Alive

Myself, my cats, and my hubby survived that horrible storm that ripped through our state over the weekend. It was nice 'cause at the begining of the rain/windstorm, all of us were out on our newly screened in second-story porch, just enjoying the cool weather and the rain. Our power flickered a bit but didn't go out. The 'Net went out on Friday, and the power dimmed a few times last night, but never went out. Babycakes is doing fine and in three weeks, I find out if it's pink bubblegum cigars or blue that my hubby gets to pass out.

No Change in TUSAL this time

I swear, June just vanished on me. I may have gotten a couple of stitches in my kaledescope project done, but nothing was added to my TUSAL jar. Unless you count me dropping it to spill all the threads and my cat getting into it before I could rescue it, thus creating a mess. *laughs* Good news is that I'm going to start working on a commisssion wedding announcement for a lady who came into the store the other day. It's going to be interesting as I've never done a commission piece before. I'm just glad she was reasonable and didn't insist on the wedding piece with the ribbon embroidery since I have no idea how to do ribbon embroidery yet. It's not something I've had a chance to learn, and I don't know anyone around here that could teach me so if I do end up learing, it's going to be me, a book, a lot of ribbon, and youtube trying to figure out how to do this stuff. So no ORT picture this time, but I'll start again once I start on that samplet since I'll have stuff to add to my jar then.....

No WIPockalypse update

I'm afraid that not only am I late on the WIPockalypse update, but I don't have anything to report. *sighs and shakes head* May and June have vanished when I blinked, but hopefully I'll have something to report when July comes along. *crosses fingers* It would be nice if things in my life would settle down a bit, but I don't forsee that happening any time soon. Especially with my cats helping me stitch. *laughs*

So very late.....

I am really sorry to everyone who follows my blog for not posting for a month! May just vanished between working, doctor's appointments, and getting ready for the Patriotic Freedom Festival here. But the time was well spent because Troup Roja and the Thursday Night class rocked the festival! This is us doing Yeslam Galbak as choreographed by Ruby Gesire and modified by Zattana Al-Naseem. Me doing some veil work during the improv section of the performance. There was this cute old man in a wheelchair at our second performance. He started out near the back but quickly moved himself forward to the front. He'd clap along and whenever one of us would dance near him, he'd give us this huge grin and an 'okay' sign. Afterwards, he told one of the ladies that he moved close because he was hard of hearing. *laughs* She responded that she thought he just enjoyed our dancing. Now on to the stitching. *laughs* First up is the kalediscope for my youngest neice. It's a quick easy thing and is coming right along. I'm going to be filling in the blank space in the center with white thread to make it look all uniform. The other thing that's been taking up my time. It's a traveling baby blanket 'cause it's the right sixe to fit in a carseat without miles of blanket to contend with. This one is for my SiL's second child who's about ready to show up any day now. And once more, Bacchus is helping me stitch by making sure my stitching basket doesn't fly off..... unfortunately, I can't get to any of the thread now. Oh well.

Late TUSAL and IHSW

Life's been a bit crazy lately so excuse the fact I'm nearly a week late for both of these. Plus it doesn't help I had to figure out where everything was in the new Blogger. It also doesn't help that photobucket has a new photo editor that's just as confusing. This is the start of the kalediscope for my youngest neice. This is the part that wraps around the main part and it will have her name on it. and my TUSAL jar with some rainbow colors in there due to the kalediscope. I have a baby blanket I've started crochetting for my SiL who's expecting as well, but I don't have a very good picture of that one. I'll probably get a better one about the time the WIPockalypse come around.

WIPockalypse check in

Yes, I'm late, but I've got good news as to why:

1. My dad managed to rescue my files for me

and

2. I found out yesterday that I'm pregnant. So there's a future stitcher/belly dancer coming along in 9 months.

So for the WIPockalypse check in!


First up is Oak Island Mystery. Not much has gotten done on this, but I just recently picked it up as I finished "Zombies". I hope my nephew enjoys this.


Have a row finished in Royalty and am working on a second row. I'm one of those people who has to work from either the center or the bottom right corner 'cause of the way I stitch.


Not a great picture, but it's going to be a kaleidascope for my littlest neice with her name on it. I'm hoping she enjoys it.