I Love to Stitch Challenge

 Embroidery website has the I love to stitch challenge starting tomorrow. If you haven't signed up hurry. Just 30 minutes a day of stitching required. 4 missed days allowed. Plus if you are successful you get an adorable needle minder in the mail.

I went through my stash and found an OLD WIP that wanted to play along this February...

Impronta D'Amore from Alessandra Adelaide Needleworks

AKA Paw Print from AAN 

Fabric is 28ct Sage Jobelan. Using 3371 and 815. Stitching over 1. Looks like I have 3 days into it now. Looks like the last time this came out was 2015!!

So let's see how far it will grow in 28 days.

February WIPocalypse

Last Sunday of the month already. Yep the 2nd month of the year already almost gone. I have a feeling yet another year is going to fly by like they always do. Love these lazy winter months. Lots of stitching time. WIPocalypse is our push to finish all our WIPs before the end of the world. Instead of watching the news we are encouraged to stitch our WIPs and Be Happy. So let's look back and see what I've been stitching since the last check in...

Salt Water Taffy -- 1 Day in January but after my check in.

Spring Time by New York Dreamer -- 24 Days. This is my LovetoStitch challenge piece. I've missed 3 of the 4 allowed days but still will probably have this finished tomorrow. I'll show where it is right now...

Year of Celebrations by Hands on Designs -- 3 Days. Finished June and Started July...

Iris (Rainbow Dragon) by Paine Free Crafts -- 1 Day...

Non Stitching Days -- 4 Days. Doing good. 

Measi also gives us fun questions to answer with our posts... What stitch-a-longs (SALs) are you participating in this year? I'm being careful this year. I just want to enjoy my stitching again. So laying low from the normal SALs.

See ya tomorrow for my normal Monday Update. 

Monday Update

Happy Valentine's Day. Hoping tomorrow I have time to hop along and find my Valentine blog hop piece. Today was a blur. So I want to get my Monday update posted. Last week I stitched every day on my Springtime piece for the embroidery.com Love 2 Stitch challenge. Here is where I am now with the piece 13 days later...

Tuesday I put another 21 minutes into the July Year of Celebrations piece...

Not much added but progress is progress.

Wednesday Fred took Jeremiah and me down to our cabin. The relaxing time was very needed. Jeremiah went to the man cave meeting Thursday night but it was just family. Still some extended family time was nice. Then Friday morning Dad and Bev came and picked up Jeremiah. They headed north to gamble at Blue Chip casino for the night. They had a blast. Fred came down after work Friday. So I had 8 hours of alone time during the day which NEVER happens. It was a very nice relaxing me day. It was nice to spend the evening with Fred also of course, we had fun plans Saturday. We went to a nice craft sale at a nearby town. Then we went to a new to us restaurant. It was delicious. Then a stop at a cigar shop for Fred. He was happy and I was happy since there was a bar in the shop haha. We hung out for a bit then headed back to our cabin. We were supposed to get Jeremiah back Saturday evening but my Dad and step mom sent us a message they were keeping him another night. Haha. So we rented two scary movies and relaxed even more together. It was wonderful and SOOOO needed. Perfect way to celebrate an early Valentine's day.

Now we are refreshed a ready for the new week ahead. Have a great week. Love yourself.

Monday Update with a Finish

Here we are another Monday. Time for a recap of my last week. I hinted at our snow storm. We did end up with a little over 13 inches over the two days. Spike LOVES it. He just keeps wanting to go outside and run. Even with a travel warning Fred's work went. He did get off an hour early. Grr. Oh well. Work is Work. He made it safe to work and home safe both days so that's all that matters.

Monday was a no stitch day. Spent time catching up reading emails and blogs.

Tuesday was the 1st so I started my new start for the Embroidery.com challenge. At least half hour a day. Here it is now after 6 days...

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent more time on it. Tuesday was 59mins. Wednesday was 1 hour 6 mins. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday was just right around 30 mins. 

Saturday and Sunday I decided to also work on another piece...

I have June, July, August, September and October to finish. Here is where June was in August last year...

I was able to finish it off Saturday...

Sunday I started on July...

Love working on them again. So that's my week. Here's to a nice new fresh week with cabin plans again. Jeremiah and I are going down Wednesday. He's going on an overnight trip with my dad and step mom Friday night. So we must go down early to get prepared right? Haha. Then Fred and I will have Friday night to celebrate Valentine's Day together a little early. Have a great week. See ya Monday. Don't forget....Love Yourself!

Monday Update

I know I posted yesterday but it's Monday so here's my Monday update. Last week I worked on Iris (Rainbow Dragon) 2 days since I had the picture in yesterday's post I won't add it again. Then another older WIP called my name. Salt Water Taffy hasn't been out since April 21st, 2020. Remember this beauty...

Here it was last time...

I asked Jeremiah to pick from Top or Bottom. He said Top so I worked on the top of the design this time. 3 days later here is where I am now...

31 days into the piece now. Loved working on it again.

So February is tomorrow and so begins...

Embroidery.com is doing the fun Love to Stitch challenge again. Idea is to stitch 30 minutes a day. I have decided to start this Spring piece...

From New York Dreamer. I have finished Winter last January.

Have a great week. Love yourself. We might be getting a big snow storm. Right now they are saying over a foot of snow which hardly ever happens so we'll see.

I Love to Stitch February Challenge

Embroidery.com announced their new February challenge. I've enjoyed all the ones I've participated in. I not only stitch every day but I earn an adorable little needle minder at the end. 

Here is the link to the challenge.

 Requirements

• You must stitch at least 30 minutes EVERY DAY.

• To stay accountable, Everyday you will post a before and after picture of your WIP to our Embroidery.com Cross Stitch & Hand Embroidery Facebook Group. If you are not on Facebook, you will email the pictures to donnett@embroidery.com.

• In your accountability post include the day, name of designer, design and #ILovetoStitch2021

• You can work on any hand embroidery project you want to. It can be the same one or several projects as long as it includes fabric, floss and a needle it qualify.

• We want you to stitch & post every day however we know that life can happen so you can miss 4 days of accountability posts and still qualify for the Love to Stitch Challenge Trophy.

   

  I've decided I will be using 99 Bottles for my challenge piece. That way I know I will make progress on it. So at least 30 minutes a day in February it will be the focus. Here's hoping I can make a lot of progress.
  

Monday Update

Wow finally my last post for today. Good thing it's almost 11pm. It's been a long day. *sigh* It's okay tomorrow is a new day.

Last week was a full stitching week again. Every day I worked on the Heart Freebie for my half hour a day. Saturday was a mandatory stitch day and I'm happy to say I stitched on the Heart Freebie everyone day in February. No missed days. Even with our road trip. I worked on it Friday on the ride up. First time stitching in the vehicle. It's a little hard to find the holes with all the bumps but I got it. Saturday I worked on it at the hotel and finished up the design just as my last 30 minutes was over...

Reminder you can get this adorable pattern here. I stitched my version in my favorite color purple. I did successful complete the Embroidery.com challenge. I seen a peek at the needle minder we will be receiving and it's beautiful of course. So I will have a free needle minder prize and a finished piece to celebrate the challenge. Sounds good to me.

I pulled out Rules for Life Monday so I could mark off the letter R on my acrostic. Loved the progress I made one it...

Tuesday I worked on 3 other acrostic pieces. Camping out. I finished a small section under the tent section...

Wish Upon a Starfish. I made more progress...

Boba Fett. Got a start on the 2nd page...

Wednesday it was time to get back to the Homely Houseplants. 2 plants left. I started #11 finished it up Thursday after 6 hours and 21 minutes...

Thursday and yesterday I got some work on the last plant...

We had a great weekend away. Lots of laughs and more memories. It was to celebrate Damein my godson's 18th birthday. I can't believe he is 18 now! Wow. We went to two different casino's to practice for Vegas in April. It was a lot of fun. Friday I lost a lot but Sunday I won most of it all back right before leaving. I was really happy of course. Mom always seems to have good luck. So does Fred. Jeremiah lost a bit and won a bit so he did even. It was a great time. Swimming. Laughing. Eating out. Casino's. Family. Friends. Perfect memories.

Have a great week. I hope to finish that darn plant quickly haha. I'll stop posting now and leave you guys alone.

Monday Update

Let's see what I stitched on last week...

Still working on the Heart Freebie every day for 30 minutes for the Embroidery.com #LovetoStitch challenge. Here is where this piece is as of yesterday...

That's Day 23 on this one. I have the heart I'm on and the large middle heart left to stitch. I don't know if it will take me all the way through the end of the month or not. 6 more days. I bet I'll finish it. I'm not good at estimating how long it will move along in the 30 min spans. I do have a 2nd piece ready to finish off the required 30 mins a day on.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I worked on the Homely Houseplants. I finished up #9 and #10 plants...

#9 is the top right plant. It's a chinese money plant. She told us they are really popular in the Netherlands where they call it a pancake plant. #10 is on the top shelf on the left. It's a calathea omata plant. The last two have been released and they are in the open spot on the left. They are both hanging basket plants that would be hanging from the "ceiling" in this piece. I can't wait to get them finished up.

Tuesday I also worked on Winter Time by New York Dreamer. This completes the A acrostic for the month...

It was a busy weekend. Fred had the day off work Friday and we went down to our cabin. My dad's work had a retirement celebration for him so we were able to attend that. We went out to eat together with some family friends after the thing at his work. Then we went back to the cabin and settled in for a movie together. Jeremiah was so happy to be in our home away from home again.

Saturday we surprised my dad with a big family and friends party at my Grandparent's house. It was fun to see everyone and we really surprised him. Sunday we cut down a few trees and had a nice meal together before heading home. Jeremiah said it was a tease since he wants it to be time to go back down every weekend. It was still pretty chilly out so it will have to wait a bit more. We did stay very warm in our cabin with both heaters running. It was wonderful.

Now it's time for another short week with a lot to cram in. I want to finish up the last 2 plants. I would love to finish up my other acrostic pieces so that means making a little progress on Rules for Life, Boba Fett, Wish Upon a Starfish, and Camping Out. With the plants and the heart progress and life I might just have to squeeze them all into one day just to make a few stitches and call them done. The plants just stole too much time this month. I'm already dreaming about what I want to stitch in March. We'll see.

Have a great week! We are also leaving Friday for a fun mini vacation to celebrate my god-son's 18th birthday.

Monday Update

Lots to talk about today. It's been a busy stitching week again. But first I wanted to share that I participated in an exchange which I haven't done in YEARS. Needlecraft Haven in a nice online bulletin board type of group.  I seen a few of my blog friends joining in their exchanges so thought I would check it out. The exchange I joined in was called a Valentine's Exchange. We were to include a paid of socks (Valentine theme), 2 matching DMC and a card. My package is taking the long way there. First my husband's postage machine didn't put enough postage on it so it showed back up at my house. Now it's taking the long way to get from Indiana to New York. I will sure be glad when it finally shows up safe and sound. I'm going to show what I sent because I don't think my exchange partner reads my blog...

3 pack of Socks, 4 DMC, card, and little piece of fabric. This is what I received in the mail...

The chocolate sure looks yummy. It was a lot of fun and definitely not my last exchange. I missed joining in.

Now let's look at what I stitched on last week...

Every day I put a half hour into the Heart freebie for the Embroidery.com #lovetostitch challenge. Here is what it looks like right now after Day 16...

Sunday the 9th a new plant came out but I worked on 99 Bottles to get the 4 bottles in. Monday I was busy and only got a little start on the 5th plant. Then Tuesday was a long day and I only got in my 30 minutes on the heart freebie. Wednesday a new plant came out. I felt way behind. Of course the 5th plant and 6th plant were big ones. Never fails. #5 was finished Wednesday. #6 wasn't finished until Friday. Saturday I really really wanted to finish #7 and #8 so I could be actually caught up. I did it!!! Here it is now...

#6 was the tall one in the pink pot. It's called a ficus lyrata or fiddle leaf fig. #7 is the hanging basket and I love it so much. It's a Devil's Ivy because she said you can't kill it. Sure I bet I could haha. #8 was back up on the shelf on the right in the blue pot. It's an aloe vera plant. With that I was finally caught up. I was curious how long I worked on it last week because it felt like FOREVER. I put in 16 hours and 59 minutes on this one!!!! Total now 32 hours and 54 minutes. Told you I feel like it's taking forever. Wow!!! 4 more plants now though. Then it will be done. Next up is a chinese money plant AKA pancake plant that goes on the top shelf on the right. Can't wait to see where the others go.

Sunday since I was actually caught up on the plants I pulled out Beer Dragon. It was called for both squares of my WIPGO board. If you haven't heard of that it's fun challenge where you make a bingo type board filled with projects you pick out and goals. Then you set rewards for each bingo you get. Each month 2 squares are called. 3 and 23 were picked this month and I had 200 stitches on Beer Dragon for each square.

Here it was before...

After 546 more stitches...

So my WIPGO goals for the month are complete. Wohoo! I will update the page on the tab at the top. I think the next numbers get picked on the 27th.

So this week's goals. Keep up with the Heart Freebie and 2 plants on the Homely Houseplants SAL. Since we have a weekend away planned the Friday and Sunday plant will have to wait till we get home. Then I'll play catch up again till it's finished. So hopefully I can mix some other stitching in there too. We'll see. My dad is retiring Friday so we are going down to celebrate with him. Plus a weekend at the cabin. We are very happy about that. It's been since Christmas. We miss it. No outside work so I'll take some stitching with me don't worry.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Monday Update

Don't worry I'm still stitching like a mad woman. Let's see what I've been working on...

Heart Freebie I've worked on every day for a half hour a day for the Embroidery.com #Lovetostitch Challenge. If I keep at it and post everyday (with 4 allowed miss days) I will get a free needle minder. I participated in the WitchyStitchy challenge during Halloween and the needle minder was very well made and definitely worth participating. I've been stitching this adorable heart freebie that I seen a picture during last year's Valentine Blog Hop...

You can go here to get the freebie if interested. I'm doing mine in 4 different purples on this beautiful random piece of purple 28ct evenweave I had in my stash. Here is the most recent picture after day 9 on it...

If you would like to see my daily progress check out my Instagram here.

I've also been doing good keeping up with the Homely Houseplants SAL. Worked on it 4 days last week. We have 5 plants now. I have 4 finished...

Plant 1 was the huge one it's a monstera plant. 2 is the small cactus sharing a table with the monstera plant. It's a columnar cactus. The one in the 3 legged display is a sanseviera plant also known as snakes tongue. The little tiny cactus on the first shelf is a globular cactus. I love the way this one is turning out so far. It's time consuming but I'm enjoying them. I didn't do yesterday's yet I wanted to work on something else for the day. I will start it today after my half hour on the heart.
As you seen in my FFG post I finished up the Feb fairy Wednesday. The other piece I worked on last week was 99 Bottles over the weekend. I have the 4 bottles added for this month. Remember in order to meet my goal of finishing this year I want to add 4 bottles a month. I had 48 left to stitch this year. Now I have 40 left. Here is the new 4 bottles on the 6th shelf...

Sunday we had a meet up to stitch at the hospital cafeteria right near me. Yes it seems funny to gather at a hospital but the cafeteria is huge and makes a fantastic meeting spot. We had 8 total this time. 3 new ladies. 2 came from 2 hours away to attend! It was a horrible snowy day too so how nice to meet them. Glad we were able to still get out and see each other. We sure had a lot of fun.

Over the weekend we binge watched Locke and Key on Netflix. We really liked it. It's a mix of Series of Unfortunate Events and Harry Potter. Magic. Mystery. Kind of spooky but not too bad in my opinion. We did watch a very nice scary movie called Eli. I loved it! Lots of twists and turns and I sure didn't predict the ending. The last one we ended up binge watching too was The Stranger. Definitely a mystery with lots of twists and turns. I enjoyed it overall though the ending really wrapped it all up and finally answered the questions so that's always nice.

Jeremiah has been having gaming marathons on the weekends with 3 friends. My godson, his dad, and brother. The boys got their dad an Xbox for Christmas. They are playing the same game together and talking via Xbox Live. Jeremiah has been having a blast. It's great to hear him laughing so much. So it makes late nights and extra TV watching time haha. Which is okay because I seem to get a lot of stitching time along with that haha.

Have a great week. I'll be working on the Heart Freebie, Homely Houseplants, and then working on getting my WIPGO goals met. Both numbers called this month were for 200 stitches on Beer Dragon. So I'll shoot for at least a minimum of those 400 stitches to call that one complete for the month. It's also on my monthly acrostic so that works.

Monday Update

Some people suffer from lost mojo. I swear my mojo is going to EXPLODE. I need to share some of my mojo with someone who needs it. I want to stitch all the things and I want to do it NOW. Let's see what I've been working on this last week.

Last Monday I took my first day off since January 1st. After the weekend marathon I just wanted a break from stitching. Tuesday I got started on the Mill Hill Camping Out. It's the companion piece to the one I finished last year for my cabin. In my wrap up post I shared a photo of the Camping Out Mill Hill. Thursday I got the section finished up and worked on Salt Water Taffy for the rest of the day. I finished up the left side of the chart. Here are the photos I shared in my wrap up post again so you can see what I'm talking about...

Friday was time for the last letter in my acrostic Wish Upon a Starfish I didn't think I would get 4 hours but I actually did and even 3 minutes longer than the full 4 hours. It was hard to put down. Here is where I got with that one...

Saturday was the 1st and I was READY to go!!! Exciting new month full of stitching plans. 3 new starts!!!

Every day I'm stitched a piece for a half hour for the #Lovetostitch challenge for the Embroidery.com group. I'm using this adorable heart freebie that AriadnefromGreece stitched last year for the Valentine Blog Hop. I fell in love with it and wanted to stitch it myself...

Half hour sure goes fast. I'm doing mine in 4 different purple DMC on this beautiful piece of hand dyed 28ct evenweave someone gave me. Here are my 2 days so far...

Also got started on the February Fairy. But she isn't getting a lot of attention. Here is my sad amount on her from 2 days of stitching on her...

She's only been out 1 hour and 17 minutes. Because my other new start was the Homely Houseplants SAL. The first plant came out Saturday too! It was a monster. Well the plant is a monstera plant so I guess it makes since it would be a monster to stitch up...

It took 7 hours and 39 minutes to finish up!!! What a time stealer. Today's plant is a lot smaller so hopefully it won't take near as much time. It's a little cactus that sits beside the one already stitched. Every 2 day I get a new plant until I have 12 total. I really love the way it looks. Finally plants I can't kill and don't have to water.

So I've been stitching like a mad woman and LOVING it. I just am going crazy because everything else wants to be stitched too. The mail came Saturday and I got two class projects that I need to work on and finish before my March retreat. But I looked and told them they can wait till March. I won't have a problem finishing them up before the retreat since it's the 25th. Right? Haha. Besides I already have MORE than enough I want to do this month. Plus there were two new freebies released that I printed out. One for Easter. One from Hands on Design. Did you see her new anniversary piece? Adorable!!! So stitch stitch stitch I must. Here's hoping I have enough hours in my February to do everything I want to do.

Over the weekend we watched Lost in Space on Netflix. Only 4 left of those. We didn't watch the Superbowl. Just no interest in NFL in this house. WWE is our only sport we watch.

Have a great week! Stitch Stitch Stitch!

#24HOCS February Goals

February I have a lot of fun plans to look forward to. I'm doing the #LovetoStitch challenge where we post a photo every day to the Facebook group with a half hour of progress before and after. The Homely Houseplants SAL with Stitchonomy starts tomorrow and every two days we get a new plant to stitch on our shelves with a total of 12 plants to stitch up. We are having another stitch meet up on the 9th. Two fun weekend getaways to be excited about. The 21st weekend to our cabin to celebrate my dad retiring from his job after 41 years. We are attending his work party on Friday and having a family party Saturday to celebrate. The next weekend the last one of February my godson is turning 18 years old. So we have a whole bunch of friends getting together at a hotel and having a pool party which just so happens to be really close to an awesome casino too. So lots of fun to look forward to but it's also another cold winter month which should hopefully mean a lot of stitching time during the week days.

Let's go over my #24HOCS Goals for the month.

1st up to stitch 24 hours throughout the month. Should be no problem right?

2nd is the monthly acrostic. This month is LEAPYEAR20. Let's see what I picked for those letters...

L - Feb Fairy from Lili of the Valley Calendar
Connection: L in Lili 

Goal: Finish 

Another cutie this month. Can't wait to start her.

E - Heart Freebie
Connection: Each Day
Goal: Finish? 

I received this adorable heart last year for the Valentine Blog Hop from AriadnefromGreece. When I seen it was a freebie I quickly printed it out to hopefully stitch myself. I'm going to work on it a half hour a day for the #LovetoStitch Challenge. I don't know if I will finish it or not we'll see. If I do I have another love themed piece ready to go in it's place.

A - Winter Time
Connection: A Gift to Me
Goal: 4 Hours 

P - Homely Houseplants SAL
Connection: P in Plants
Goal: Keep Up with SAL

SAL with Stitchonomy. Can't really show you a picture of this one because I have no idea what it will look like. 12 plants. Released every 2 days starting tomorrow. Can't wait to see it come together.

Y - 99 Bottles
Connection: Yeast in Beer
Goal: Add 4 Bottles 

E - Wish Upon a Starfish
Connection: Easy Stitch
Goal: At Least 24 Minutes 

A - Camping Out MH
Connection: Another Section
Goal: Finished at least 1 Section

This is the 2nd Mill Hill Kit I want to complete for the cabin. I finished the other one in 2019. Now to finish the companion piece. I have another matching custom mat like the one I used for Cabin Fever as well.

R - Rules for Life
Connection: R in Rules
Goal: At least 24 Minutes 

The marathon made me want to work on this one again. So it's on the list.

2 - Boba Fett
Connection: Start 2nd Page
Goal: 4 Hours 

Really want to finish this one this year for Jeremiah so have to keep it on the list.

0 - Beer Dragon
Connection: Over One
Goal: At least 400 Stitches
For WIPGO Board 

Both numbers picked for the WIPGO board were 200 stitches for this one. So need a total of 400 to call those marked off. 

There is also a Holiday calendar. I will do my best to come up with matches for those fun days. Just need to have a really creative mind day haha. I just shake my head at most the days listed. National Clam Chowder Day? Really we need a day for that haha. Do a Grouch a Favor Day did make me laugh. I do see a few that will work right away at least. Now to stretch the others haha. 

Have a great month. Here's hoping we all have a lot of progress to share at the end of the month.