Red Kitten Finish!

And here she is in all her glory. :)

I bought YLI clear beading thread and it was my first time using it. I was thinking to myself that is was as thin as cat hair, and was having a hard time threading it on the beading needle. turns out I was actually threading cat hair and not the thread at all. doh.

Up next, Tribal Flamingo! :)

Red Kitten WIP

Red Kitten WIP, trying to finish this by the end of the year. :)

WIP and Stash time!

Ok I have some new stash and some WIP pics today!

First up is a Wind Waker pattern I found on Sprite Stitch. Here is a small picture of it if you don't want to bother clicking on link.

and here is my progress so far.

As you can see I am working on the sail! It's on 16 count AIDA fabric in Stellar. It's super soft and I fell in love with it when I got it so I had to buy myself a piece for a project I've been waffling on buying for ages.

I love these fishes but I am *not* going to stitch all that blue. Ever. So this fabric is perfect! I ordered the fabric and pattern and the floss (minus any blue colours) and can't wait for it. :)

My take-along project is Mirabilia's Red Kitten, as seen here in a bad picture.

and my progress.

Doing it on all the recommended fabrics and colours. I work on it when I have gaps between clients.

I also bought Gardenia Fairy

with everything to make her. She's so pretty ^_^

ANNND. Azure Mermaid. I really like all the mermaids, but not the size of them. Well, miss Nora came out with Azure and she's super pretty.

I ordered everything to go with it.

I do have a bit of a beef with ABCStitch Therapy. It was my first time ordering from them when I ordered Azure Mermaid and while everything got to me (sans fabric which they said they'd send when they had some) it didn't come with a do not bend sticker or piece of cardboard, so my mailperson bent it up and shoved it in the box. My mailperson should know better too, but whatever. The damage wasn't too horrible to the pattern.

The fall weather has me all wanting to bunker down with tea and my stitching. :) I am enjoying getting back into it. Though I should probably NOT buy any more stash LOL. We all know how that goes. I seriously can't fit any more projects in my Alex unit.

Anyway that is all for today, I really must get stitching :)

Hello~

Well then, this week is turning out to be another really busy week at work. Stitching is at an all time low, I'm afraid. I did get my Birthday stash a month after I ordered it.. I present to you my three Mirabilia Fairies!

how festive!

Sorry about the glare, they are in a plastic sleeve and my Ott-Lite is like right there!

Theresa over at Shakespeare's Peddler is trying to raise money for the Gatos to have more fun in their lives. She is offering needlework goodies (fibers/embellishments/patterns) in exchange for 50 USD! She did mention in the post about US residents... I emailed her anyway to ask if I could join in the fun if I sent a little extra to cover postage to Canada. I really hope she says yes! You can click the link and see what it's all about, and if you have the extra dough lying around maybe you could help her out too :)

SHE REPLIED! and yes she'll ship to Canada, hurray! I was so excited that I was about to get dressed and head to the post office to get a MO and mail it, but then remembered that it's Good Friday. Not open! I'll do it tomorrow. :)

Speaking of tomorrow, I can't wait for it. Yesterday I drove about 78 km to visit all my clients. That's a lot of driving in a 7 hour shift! Tonight doesn't look too bad so far, but I do have a 20 km drive between two clients at the end of my visits. Tomorrow I have an easy shift of 4 hours but it's with the same person who is nice to be around. No long drives for me!

I took a picture of my progress on Follow Me. I have been slowly working on it, a few stitches at a time. :)

Oh yeee, my treadmill got delivered yesterday. We were told that it would be between 8am and 2pm, that he would phone 10 mins before he arrived, and that he had to deliver it in the back entrance. We were told he would have a dolly.

None of those things happened. He arrived at 3:30, didn't phone, didn't go to the back entrance, and didn't have a dolly. So he left it on the back driveway by the ROAD. I paid over 1400 for this thing, and this is the delivery I get? Lucky for me we have fridge dollys (heavy duty ones!) because this treadmill is a beast. It weighs 317 pounds, so getting it from the road to the house was really fun for my brothers and dad lol. It is still sitting on the back deck, so I don't know when we'll be able to put it together. It's going to have to come in to the house in parts lol. There is no way we are going to be able to bring that box in here. :)

My Dad emailed NordicTrack to complain about the horrible delivery service. lol.

I think that is about it! Happy Stitching everyone and enjoy Easter Weekend!

March Goals!

I had goals! did I do them? we'll see.

Start and Finish Eevee uhh. yeah about that. Eevee ... just didn't get stitched. I don't know what is with it, but I can't bear to do it lol. Going to give it a rest and see how I feel later about it.

Finish Pinkie Pie ALL DONE! and mailed. He got it two days ago and LOVES IT! that makes me so happy. :)

Work on Follow Me I did do some, but not as much as I'd have liked.

Finish my take-along project that I work on on Saturdays which is a Dinky Dyes pattern that came with a thread pack I bought. I worked on it over 2 weekends before switching it out and putting Letter S in. I found it sort of boring! I put it in a drawer for now and might pick it up later. For now, Letter S is in!

Mail everything that needs to be mailed after the 23rd but before April 1st, which includes Paladin, all the Pokemon, Pinkie Pie, and all the threads for Sunflower Fairy which I am sending off to a stitching pal of mine. I ended up mailing Paladin and Pinkie Pie and forgetting the Threads and the Pokemon stuff. Those are next up!


April Goals!

- Mail threads and pokemonz
- Continue on with Follow Me/Letter S
- Stitch up Rageface for another Guildie. It suits him perfectly haha.
- Get crackin on Cougar!
- WALK A LOT (Once my treadmill gets here!)

And that is that! I can't believe it's going to be April. Where is the year going?!

Sunflower Finish!

And She is done :) Started around May 30th, Finished November 23rd. Used all materials it called for.

Another off the 2011 Bucket list. I almost feel accomplished. :D

Wine a Bit Finish

And it is done! I have a couple people who love their wine and thought of them when I was making this pattern haha. I don't know who I'll send it to. :)

I also spent a good part of the day with Sunflower Fairy, who is coming along very nicely. I even did some of the beading. I'm still undecided about the beading around the skirt bottom as I sort of like it the way it is. We shall see. :) It'll be nice to get her done as she has been a WIP since May 30th!

I'll be focusing on her now until she is finished, and then it's on to Paladin.

I'm also excited about next year as I just may have my first SAL! It will be the Britty Kitty Christmas Stocking, so if anyone else has that pattern in their stash, Evalina and I will be doing it next year. Put in your material orders now! :D

That is it for now, Happy Stitching everyone :)

Yay for Stitching!

I've been puttering around all day and have actually gotten some stitching done! I also went through my stash and kitted up next year's projects. While I'm not joining in on the Crazy January Challenge, I do have a list. What's funny is that I'm only 5 projects off the challenge. When I first made this list, there was only 7, but it has ballooned to 10! My list is in no particular order.

Messenger by Fire Wing Designs
Summer Splendor by LHN
2011 Santa by Prairie Schooler
Letter S by Letters by Nora Corbette
Follow Me by Primitive Needle   
Christmas Kitty Moon by Stitchy Kitty
Britty Kitty Christmas Stocking by Brittercup Designs
Britty Kitties I & II by Brittercup Designs
Cat Lessons for People by Lizzie*Kate
Buzzzz by Bent Creek

This may even be 2 year projects lol. I am paying off my Student Loan next year, so no stash/no finishing (oh I'm itching at the credit card already hahaha)

So here is my photo updates. First up is Wine A Bit by Lizzie*Kate. I'm hoping to get it done tomorrow!

I also worked a bit on Paladin:

aaaaaand a good chunk done on Sunflower Fairy. I am so close to being done this one!

I

I also feel like a real needleworker now. I bought my first pair of Ginghers! The Just Nan needleslide was also too cute and I decided I needed that too.

Back to the scissors though (That sounds like a movie that NEEDS TO BE MADE), I love them. I love the feel. The weight. The smooth cutting action. I'd sleep with these scissors if I could get away with it. Maybe when they are duller. Yes..

Ahem. And I forgot to mention I bought myself a new TV the other day! My  19" Sony Bravia in White and Pink just wasn't cutting it anymore and I upgraded to a 32" LG. It's soo nice! With that came a really nice garage sale find TV armoire. The thing weighs about 400 pounds being solid wood, and it was only 50 bucks!

The only problem with the new armoire was that it was taller than the last one, and there happened to be a loose tile in the ceiling. I then noticed I was missing a cat. Weezi decided going between the floors was the best idea he's EVER had. I had to use the duck jerky to get him to come down. Thankfully all I have to say is "duck" and he comes running. What's really sad is that I can make the CAT come to me but Emma doesn't listen to me at all! My old cat Tomis learned how to shake a paw, sit, speak, and beg on command. Emma? can't (or won't) do a damn thing. :D

That's about it for now :) Happy Stitching!

I need to work on my picture taking skills.

Funny how finding time to stitch is easy when you're not constantly sleeping (or working!). Been chipping away at Sunflower while uhm.. watching some of the Cali vs Murray trial. I duno about manslaughter, but the guy's gross negligence certainly didn't help.  I don't think he set out to intentionally be malicious, and that MJ was probably close to death as it was. What the doctor did after the fact may have saved him, but in this case, what he didn't do lead to him not being able to be resuscitated at all. Sad case. I don't know if I could really be a juror. All the blah blah blah without being able to stitch or do anything would drive me bonkers.

So on to the bad pic of Sunflower!

I did manage to go through my Stash with help from my cats, of course. I narrowed it down to:
Mira's Letter S for which I have all the materials for,
Cat Lessons for People if I haven't done it this year (have all materials),
Prairie Schooler 2011 Santa (need fabric),
some of the Britty Kitties I, II, The Britty Kitty Stocking (need fibers, buttons, and fabrics), even though I don't know how I am going to even finish the thing,
the Christmas Kitty ornament by Stitchy Kitty (need fabric and button),
Messenger by Fire Wing designs (need pattern and fiber).

I'll be putting my order in when I get my HST rebate cheque in October for the rest of the fabrics and fibers I need for those, and then I shall be set!

I still have some smaller patterns too that I recently bought, Summer Splendor by LHN and Wine a Bit by Lizzie*Kate which I'll also get around to doing at some point, too!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the creators of puppy pee pads. Emma absolutely refuses to go outside when it's raining. Or snowing. It's been very fall type weather with rain, and here she is standing at the door looking out, then looking at me with this DO I HAVE TO look on her face. I tell her that she is a dog and indeed must go outside to do her business. So she goes out and I close the door. I kid you not, not even 1 min later she's jumping incessantly at the door, ruining whatever finish it used to have on it. I ended up buying a 150 pack of puppy pee pads because it feels like it's going to be a long and cold winter.

I wonder who has who trained?

Waking up is hard to do!

For some reason the sore throat and general malaise that I had in August came back and I'm just getting over it again now. Since it happened twice I went to the doctor but she didn't think there was anything to be concerned about. It's super annoying because all I've been doing is sleeping! I even took off the second half of my Sunday shift because I was feeling so crappy.

I learned fast that I'm bad at deadlines, so that deadline of having ABC done by October went out the window. Whoops. Maybe by November? :D I am working on another WIP that I haven't touched in awhile, and that's Mirabilia's Sunflower Fairy!

It looks like I missed a spot on the wing with the dark blue line, but it's there. I went and looked after I took the picture because I thought I skipped it lol. Loving the colours.

One of the Blogs I follow was talking about doing a challenge next year to use what she has, and it really got me thinking that I might do just that. I'm sure we all have a ton of stash that we probably should be working on rather than buying more. At least I do. :)

So far this year I've done not too bad on my bucket list. Once I finish ABC of parenting and Sunflower here, I have 2 projects left on the list. Paladin by Fire Wing Designs, and Rules for Cat People by Lizzie Kate. Of course throughout I've also done a bunch of the Signet dragons for friends, and the halloween ornament which were not on the list. :D

I think that in the next couple weeks I'm going to go through my stash and decide just what I want to work on next year. I usually do a big stash buy in December/January of fabrics which I'll have to do again since I'm running low again. We'll see! I'll narrow it all down to basics and try to use what I have.

I switched out my summer bedding to the fall/winter. Fleece sheets, extra blankets, and a darker duvet cover because my darling Emma likes to run in from outside and immediately jump on the bed. When it's dry out that is not a problem. I had this idea in my head that I'd get this girly dog and name her Emma. What I ended up with is a dog who likes to kill wildlife, roll in it's guts, and find the most muddy part of the yard to dig in. At least she's named Emma?

Anyway that's about it for now, I have a desire to go through my stash!

Crazy days

Been awhile, eh? I haven't been stitching too much lately due to a lot of stress from work, and I've also been doing some yard work which is totally not like me at all. :)

I did manage to get a few stitches in Sunflower Fairy, but I don't know if I'm happy with the arms or not. This is my first Mirabilia and I'm not entirely sure how to stitch them in. I'm sure once I get the wings on and the backstitching in it'll look fine.

SO anyway, here is the picture of my small bit of progress!

This Canada Post strike seems to be working in favour of my Stash spending haha. It's keeping me from spending even more money. I'm trying to save it for a new car, so I spent yesterday working out a budget and basically any stash I buy must be spent with money that is not from my paycheque. That means birthday/christmas/government cheques can be spent on stash. Here's hoping I can stick with it! :D

Sunshine!

Today has been a most beautiful day. Being on the West Coast of Canada, we get a lot of dreary gray and rainy days, but today is wonderful! I'm not really a go out into the sun type, but I do like a nice day. I spent most the morning watching trash TV and working on Sunflower Fairy. I also cleaned up the stairwell heading outside of all the leaves and other things that collected there over the winter/spring. I found a huge earthworm hanging out down there, which made a quick disappearance and I can only hope he ran away and that Emma didn't eat him.

Here is todays update on her

There's a purple colour in there that doesn't look like it should be if you're just looking at the Valdani threads, but once you stitch it in, it actually works. Happy with the progress, even if my eyesight isn't cooperating with the 32 ct linen. :)
I leave you with a picture of Emma, after spending a lot of time sunbathing she decided to come in for a bit. I have the basement door open for her to come in and out. I don't have a screen door yet so she also has the duty of making sure the cats don't go out. She knows they need to stay in, so if they venture out into the stairwell, she herds them back in for me. :D

Sunflower again.

So I can't really work on 32 count fabrics. I should have thought about that before I started. I just don't have the eyesight any more for stitches so small. Well, I can probably work on 16 count AIDA, but this Linen fabric is just waaay too hard for me.

Anyway here is today's small bit of progress:

To the left of the shoulder, there's a small blip in the fabric. That was from Weezi thinking it would be a good idea to try and catch the thread as it was being pulled through. I put him on the floor and told him that this is why we can't have nice things. He just looked at me with a scowl because obviously, it's what cats do.

Sunflowers

Yesterday I had 2 hours between clients, and it was a gorgeous sunny evening, so I decided to take Sunflower Fairy with me and check out a cafe that I hadn't been to before. They have a really lovely sun room. I ordered a mango smoothie and sat down for some public stitching. That's the first time I've actually done it out in a public area where people can not only look at what I'm doing, but ask about it too. It was fun. :D

The smoothie was so good!

Today It's going to be me, my needle, and Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the Tudors. Can't think of a better way to spend my day off.

I know I said I wouldn't..

But I ended up doing another order. See, my fav stitching ONS was having a clearance of their Namaste Buddy cases, and while I already have one, I made up something in my head about needing a second. Plus it's light pink, and I like pink. Of course, I couldn't just order that! I finally got my order today!

I ordered Mirabilia's letter S and all the goodies. The pictures I took aren't the best quality, but whatever.

I have a piece of hand dyed jobelan in raspberry lite, which I did my floss toss on. I'm still not sure if I want it so pink, but we'll see after the next couple projects. I have time to think about it.