Jan 22nd Monday Update

Howdy to my wonderful readers. Welcome to another Monday update. Let's see what I've been working on the past week.

Monday I worked on Winter Line Up by The Trilogy. Remember I'm shooting for 100 a week for a challenge on this one...

I was trying to finish the snowman body and hit 237. Still not finished with him haha. He's sure cute though.

Tuesday I pulled out Rules for Life because I knew it would make Faith happy haha.
 

Before and After above. Since it was still brutal cold and it's only one color I added 935 stitches! I was very happy with the progress. 

Wednesday I decided it was time to finish off Country Life because I remembered being really close with it...

(3) January 17th

Country Life

from Just Cross Stitch June 2023 Issue

Fabric 14ct Rustico Aida (from Hobby Lobby)

Using Suggested DMC threads

Start Jul 13, 2023. Took 7 Days.

Didn't Count Stitches at Start Yet

Then I pulled out Grow Together Heaven and Earth Designs for the rest of the day Wednesday and all day Thursday...

Added 806 total over the two days. Looks like Day 18 on this one. I'm using 28ct Light Blue Jobelan which is funny because now I love 32ct. But I started this in 2013 so it was 28ct time haha.

Friday I was trying to figure out what to work on for IHSW (International Hermit Stitch Weekend). Plus we had a beautiful 3 inches of snow on the ground. So I pulled out the Sekas - A Snowman Heart I had in my tote. This one used 10ct Natural Linen, 3 Caron Watercolours, #8 braid Kreinik, and a few beads. I not only started it but finished it the same day...

When I bought this complete kit on Ebay in 2020 it came with these two adorable clay snowmen. I think they look adorable on it in place of two stitched snowman. I love how it turned out. I didn't count the stitches because counting specialty stitches is a pain haha. 

Saturday and Sunday I worked on Colorful Eagle by Kitty & Me...

Saturday we ran some errands and visited with Bev in the rehab. She's doing great with her rehab. Walking with a walker now. Her vision is still spotty. After visiting we stopped at Walmart and grabbed our groceries for the week. I added 260 on Saturday and then 735 Sunday. I really enjoy this one because I outline with the Kreinik and then go back and color it in. Seems to go quickly.

Our weather has still been really frigid cold so staying inside as much as possible. Now tonight we might get an ice storm. Then supposed to get warmer and rain everyday. So our lovely snow will be replaced by yucky mud. Who knows what February brings though weather wise. Just have to wait and see. 

Have a great week. Love yourself. Smile as much as possible. You deserve it!

Dec 4th Monday Update

Home from a nice weekend away visiting friends and having fun. So posting this late in the day but wanted to get my post up before I fall asleep. First let's see what I worked on last week.

Monday I took the day off and worked on taking down the fall decorations and putting out the Christmas stuff. LOVE it. 

Tuesday and Wednesday I worked on Autumn Time from New York Dreamer. I laughed when I looked at when I worked on it last. Exactly one year ago. So evidently November 28th is pull out Autumn Time day haha. I added 551 stitches...

Thursday I pulled out Country Life and had time for 195 stitches on the bottom row...

Friday was the 1st so time to start the December challenges I posted about in an earlier post. I was so happy to start. First up I rolled dice for the WIP Wrangler challenge. Got 16 on the 20 sided dice which meant I needed to work on All American by Primrose Cottage Stitches. I then rolled a 2 which I multiply by 100 and then divide by 2. So needed 100 stitches. After that I worked on Season 2 for the Stitch the Advent Prompts because it was Merry and I'm very merry this is my last Season 2 and I've stuck with them all year. I added 468 stitches before the next prompt was released at 6pm my time. The 2nd prompt was Red. Which was funny because on the All American piece I had a Red word Red where I was stitching. So back to that for 100 more stitches...

  Start Picture above.

 

Added 101.

Start progress for Season 2 by Hands on Design December.

Added 468.

 

Back to All American for 102 for the Prompt Red.

 

We left Saturday morning. We did a lot of Christmas shopping. Including not one but two trips to my favorite stitching store House of Stitches. Decided to stop back today on the way home to pick up a few things I decided I needed after thinking more at the hotel haha. But Santa has that stuff now so I'll have to wait to share it later. We got things done we needed done Spike nails trimmed and haircuts for us. We visited with friends. We got to stop at 2 casinos. We just had a blast. So many laughs. So much fun. It was a lovely way to enjoy the journey of December and celebrating the joy of Christmas instead of just waiting for one day to enjoy it. Our focus this year. Enjoying Christmas as a family. Boy we did. We made it home this afternoon and got everything unpacked then decided to go get our Christmas tree and groceries instead of putting it off to another day. We decided on a 3ft little fake tree this year. We love it!!!

Fred also put up some outdoor lights. Now we are all ready. A few more gifts to gather. We are hoping for a shopping weekend next weekend. Right now just extra thankful. Hopefully I can rest up and STITCH now after a few days off. I miss it. Plus I need to catch up on prompts and rolls.

Sept 25th Monday Update

Another fun challenge week with the Go Stitch Challenge. This has been a fantastic challenge for me. I've enjoyed it very much. Let's see what stitching I did last week...

Monday -- Day 18 Letter G. Grow Together HAED 200 needed ...

Tuesday - Day 19 Letter H Jeremiah picked Halloween Minis from Artecy...

You can see in the photo with all of them I was close to finished with Ice Monster. After 534 stitches it was finished. Now just the cat and cauldron left. The other 3 I just don't care for bat, scarecrow, and grave stone. I didn't like the cauldron and Jeremiah convince me it was kind of cute haha. 

Wednesday -- Day 20 Letter X. Go Stitch Day needed 400...

I decided to finish up Wish Upon a Starfish first...

216 stitches finished it up. I am so happy to have this one finished. I started it in 2015! Of course I only worked on it 21 days. I would put it down and completely forget about it. 

The rest of Day 20 I put stitches in Book Dragon...

195 stitches added brought my total for the day 411 so Day 20 was complete.

Thursday - Day 21 Letter Wild. Minimum stitches on any choice. I went back to Country Life from the Just Cross Stitch Magazine...

Added 219 for Thursday

Friday - Day 22 Letter J. Wow no J for me. So 400 stitch day. Back to Country Life already on Q-Snaps...

638 added.....another close finish

Saturday and Sunday no stitching. Letters....B and D were called. I have WIPs for both so that's awesome. Just 400 stitches to make up. Today is T which I get to start a new piece for. Why no stitching this weekend?

We've been working hard and finally Sunday was our last trip to the house. We got the rest of the stuff we needed out and let the rest go. Fred has to stop and get a few things that he can pick up easily after work. Our poor little truck just couldn't haul any more in one load. It was full. But Jeremiah and I said Goodbye. It was hard. Tears were shed. 15 years here. 15 years worth of memories. We are ready to move on with our lives. We are ready to change some things drastically. We are changing things drastically. I learned a lot finally. No more hoarding. No more getting more things that we just don't need. Cherish the things you have don't get more and more and more. I am so curious to see what the auction will bring. If the company knows what they are doing it should be great. Honestly though I'm so thankful they are doing the rest. They will clean out the trash. Clean out the stuff for sale. Do the sale. I'm so so thankful. Yesterday I was just done and disgusted with how I let stuff overtake my health. Everywhere. Stuff. Junk. Just never going to live like that again. Anyway I am healing now. Our poor storage shed door barely closed. We need to get in there and sort everything. My crafts is spread into box and box after box. So I will definitely be organizing everything better. We luckily found a lot of containers and tubs to store stuff in. Now we can breath and take our time with that. No rush. No pressure. Just getting the storage shed better haha. 

 

Love yourself. Breath. Hug your loved ones. Smile. I'm off to stitch and catch up. Have a wonderful fantastic week.

July 24th Monday Update

Hello lovely readers. Let's see what stitching I did last week...

Monday I finally joined in on Mill Hill Monday. The idea is simply... Stitch on any Mill Hill kit for Monday. Oh I have plenty too. First one up is Camping out...

Here is where it was...

I worked on it last in 2020 but then added a teeny bit for the 12x12 New Year's Eve fun celebration. I already have a companion piece finished and framed in our cabin. So I will work on this one for now on Monday's. Here it is after this past Monday...

Working on this one makes me wonder why I haven't worked on it in so long. One of the problems with having so many WIPs haha. I have so many I just love working on again when I do pick them back up. Which is a great thing I guess. Plus working on it on Monday's will be exciting and hopefully keep me from getting bored. I have so many other Mill Hill kits to pick after this one is done too. So hopefully Mill Hill Monday will get me going on them.

Tuesday I had Jeremiah pick a number. Country Life from Just Cross Stitch magazine was up. I worked on it two days...

It's funny since it's so easy it gets boring fast. I did make good progress at least. Thursday and Friday I picked up the Summer Gnome from Soda Stitch...

Saturday we ended up having an overnight day trip haha. It started as a Want to go visit our camping friends for the day? To okay serious we know we won't want to leave let's just get a hotel. It was time for our yearly camping event in Ohio. We didn't attend last year. A lot of change in administration just made it not as much fun so we had decided not to attend. But then we noticed we hadn't seen the friends we seen there in just as long. So we went 2 hours to visit. It was nice but honestly a reminder we are glad we didn't go camp. Jeremiah said he doesn't know why but we have just changed so much. Drama and all that is just something we are staying away from. I laughed and said Boy we got old. We did have a blast visiting and Spike did amazing. A few other dogs barked during the day. Not Spike. He was just happy to meet so many many people. He seemed to really enjoyed himself. We had a nice hotel stay then said our goodbyes and hurried back to our campground. So much better. I did put a teeny amount of stitching into Book Dragon Sunday but not enough to count. Too tired after our night away.

This week is supposed to be HOT. So going to get laundry done tonight. Hopefully that means some good stitching time this week.

Last week was a weird ride. Jeremiah went to stay with my dad and step mom Friday night. So Fred and me had a date night. That was nice. The lady who owns the house we lived in called. Long long story short we don't get along very well but we are keeping it polite. Well she is ready for us to get our stuff so she can sell the house. I knew it was coming but still. So now we need to get storage and get our stuff moved. What a pain. Luckily the company buying the house is going to auction the stuff for us. So one major thing I don't have to get arranged. Just need to figure out how everything works. Mom has A LOT of stuff. She was probably considered a hoarder. So August we will be picking out what we need/want and moving it to storage and figuring out all the details of getting rid of the rest. I'm happy and yet so sad. I will glad when it's gone but.....soooooo many memories with each little thing. Literally every toy Jeremiah has ever owned is in that house. Every article of clothing. I am so ready to purge it all though. I want to live minimal. I just don't want to turn around 5 years from now and regret getting rid of something. Memories don't need to take up physical space. I keep telling myself that. I will keep what I can cherish and the rest will be gone and off my shoulders.

So Monday I felt pretty defeated. Tired. Not ready for the answers and no where near enough energy to get the stuff I want out. Just physically done. I pouted and cried....

By Wednesday it was so odd. I felt like it was off my shoulders. I know it's not over shoot we haven't started but it will be done. It will be gone. I felt the relief. I can have access to my stuff again. I can have my sewing machine close and go get it do some finishing then take it back to storage. It will be within reach instead of so far away. It will be ours. The house will be gone. 

It's crazy how much love I feel for my stitching again. I joined two Facebook groups that do challenges and I caught myself being so excited about Fall, Winter, Christmas, and next year. I have no idea what life will bring ahead.....but I'm ready.

We are moving ahead ready for life and whatever it brings.

Anyway sorry to ramble. Felt good to get it out though. I was reading through my blog in 2020 looking about the Mill Hill piece and I'm so sad about how sad I sounded. So many years I have needed change. I was letting myself getting so down. I can now feel my happiness. Yes Monday I was stressed but after Monday it was better. My focus changed quickly. I love my new life. I love what's coming. I'm okay. 

Love yourself. Smile. Find happiness.

July 17th Monday Update

Hey everyone. Another Monday. Hope everyone reading this is doing well. Let's see what I did last week...

I've been working on Book Dragon....imagine that haha. I love it!!! I'm still really enjoying going across the whole page when stitching and I swear I'm making great progress so I'll stick with it. I worked on it 4 days last week 6 days total on it now...

1,000 stitches left and the first page is finished already!

Thursday I had another new start...

From a Just Cross Stitch Magazine. It was funny how big it felt to be stitching on 14ct Aida again haha. 

Monday night in the middle of the night we woke up to a horrible loud sound. Like someone was trying to break in the back wall of our cabin. Then I realized it was our AC unit. I was thinking what in the world. Someone was stealing our AC unit?!? Fred went around to the back and nothing. I came out and found...

a very scared baby raccoon. Evidently he had climbed up a tree and got on our roof and was trying to find his way back down. Poor thing was so scared. So I pointed and talked to it real kind. Go over this way to the tree. We came back inside and luckily it found it's way down. We love the coons around here. We put out food and they come visit every night. Just hopefully they don't climb on our AC again haha. 

I also realized I haven't shared a photo of Mr Spike lately...

He's still loving life. He doesn't mind the coons but for some reason really doesn't like possums when they come by. Too funny.

There is a lot going on. But I'm trying to remember what I tell everyone....Smile. Love yourself. Be strong. This world is just a crazy place and everywhere you look seems like something is going wrong. Find your happiness. Hugs to all who need it.

July 3rd Monday Update

 Monday I added Week 26 to the Blackwork SAL...

Just the one section left. I will miss getting the new section every Monday. 

After that I worked more on Rainbow Dragon and Tuesday she was back out. Here she is now...

All I can every say after working on Rainbow Dragon.....Those Colors!! So beautiful.

Wednesday I decided to bring out one of my Patriotic pieces...

This is where I was on it...

Last worked on Sept 12th and then for the NYE event just for a teeny bit. I got time Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday...

It's so funny working on 25ct...it looks HUGE haha. It will make a beautiful pillow though to display eventually. 

One of my friends has a Flosstube Channel.  I'll be honest she is the only one I watch. I love her personality and we know one other in the real world. Anyway she does these wonderful giveaways and I was lucky enough to win....

When she posted the optional projects in it I spotted this one that I just think I have to do...

Doesn't it fit our new country life? Love it. 

No stitching Saturday and Sunday. We had a fun relaxing movie watching weekend in the barn. It was a quiet weekend really. Since a lot of people had to work today it really felt like a normal weekend.

Plans for the week.....I need to get off this computer and finish up the Blackwork SAL. Then the July Hands on Design Season 2 needs done. Who knows after that haha. Have a wonderful week. Smile. Love Yourself!!!