Catching up!

I've been off the blogsphere quite a bit this year.  Sorry.  But here's a run down of what I've been up to recently.

Work

I'm still seeking a full time teaching job.  I've had one interview so far and my local district has several positions open so I'm hoping to get one.  If not, I'll be subbing.  I also have been grading standardized tests and found out I'll be scoring leader for the next session.

Children

My girls will both be full-time in school next year!  Finally!  My six year old passed Kindergarten reading on grade level!  That is incredible since she really didn't start talking at all until age 4 and didn't say a sentence until age 5.  We are also expecting another grandchild (a boy) so that's more ornaments to stitch.

My daughters are into Tsum Tsum (these adorable little Disney plushes).

The Five year old's collection

The Six year old's collection

We also have some Build a Bear Ponies which have recently joined us.  

Stitching

I have had a few small finishes, but I am mainly working on Gathering Honey which I plan to enter into the fair in August.

A finished Long and Winding Road

A finished Dandy Wishes

A baby shower present

Work in Progress: Mini Twist from Stitchybox

My fair piece: Gathering Honey

Stashing

My husband, who totally understand me, let me get stash at the LNS for Mother's Day.  I picked up an 11x11 QSnap and a needle keeper (which I love) as well as the fixings for the bird ornament out of last year's JCS Ornament issue, some Kreinik and silk for another WIP and the GA Chalk for the Winter Chalkboard.

April is Autism Awareness Month! And also some string....

I have mentioned it before, but both of my daughters are on the Autism spectrum.  They have been doing very well in school with the help of their iPads which they use for communication.

A few months ago, I listened to the audio version of In a Different Key: The Story of Autism.  I highly recommend it.  It is a great narrative about the history of Autism, starting with the first children diagnosed and the fight of parents to get their children out of institutions and into regular public schools.

On a string note, I am almost completed with "The Long and Winding Road" by Blackbird Designs.  Here's a picture.

Belated Posting

Hello all.

I haven't posted in a month.  I've actually gone the way of a bunch of fellow bloggers and started posting pictures on Instagram.  But I hadn't been stitching a lot until this week.  The girls were out sick again and I've been busy since I'm now playing organ for church again.  

I reached a milestone in my current WIP.  I completed the center (minus the french knots which I will put in last).  Here's a look.  

The amount of detail in this piece is stunning. This is the center and I think probably the most dense part of the piece.  After this there's a lot of white space.  I'll be taking a short break to finish up a baby sampler and a few other things and then I'll be coming back to it.

WIP Wednesday

It's been awhile since I posted.  When the girls came down with strep, I got tested and found out that I didn't have strep but had a sinus infection instead.  A few days into my antibiotic, I was feeling better when all of a sudden, I got worse.  I caught a cold virus!  Ugh.  Now, I'm over that but Mountain Cedar is pollinating and I'm apparently allergic to it.

Meanwhile, this weekend, my daughter turned 5!  Here's a picture of the cupcake cake I made for her.

Here's a quick look at what I've been working on.

Oh, and the husband bought me some stash for The Long and Winding Road.  I finally bought a plate frame for it ($16 on eBay!) and calculated the new thread count.  Instead of the called for 36, I will be using 28.

Miscellaneous stuff

Hello everyone.

There's not much to report in the world of string lately.  We have been busy with an outbreak of strep with both girls.  I don't have it but I have a sinus infection so everyone is sick.

I did start work on a small cross stitch piece I got at SCRAP a week or so ago.  It is a cute little Wine piece, but right now it says "Win"

I also managed to crochet a scarf.  I was cleaning the garage and ran across one of my early experimental loom knit scarves.  It was not very good, so I tore out the yarn and added the second color and made this:

In non string news, I have started a new reading challenged but I am doing it on Instagram/Facebook.  I also joined a "read the Bible in a year" challenge on Facebook.  Which brings me to my next point.  I grew up with the 1984 NIV Bible translation and I own both the NIV study Bible and the Concordia Self Study Bible.  Many of you may know that the NIV underwent a major revision a few years ago in 2011.  This has caused many church bodies to have to make a major decision about whether or not to stay with the NIV with its new revision.  I heard last month that Concordia, the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church's publishing house, had come out with a new study Bible using the English Standard Version.  So I picked one up.  And I'm very happy with it so far!

Other things that make me happy is that Angry Orchard has their Cinnful Apple back in season!

And in closing, I tried that whole "Pizza in a mug" thing and it's not bad.  It is a very small serving.

Current String Projects

Since the New Year started, I have been working on "Strawberry Fields Forever" by Blackbird Designs.  I am hoping to have it done and framed by Feb 20 (which is my anniversary and the husband's birthday).

I also started a new project.  I have had the materials and pattern for a few years but I never got around to starting it.  It is a "January Sampler" and it has beads and metallics and everything.  I realized today that I had read part of the pattern wrong so there was some frogging but I have made a good start so far.  There are companion February and March pieces which I hope to two the next two months as well (and then frame them all in the same type of frame).

WIPs of 2016

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  I got a few crafty things.

I don't normally set a ton or resolutions but here are my goals for the next year.

1. Wear my FitBit every day.
2. Read 200 books.
3. Get the champion ribbon at the fair (grand or reserve)
4. Get a ribbon at the state fair

Now, to the WIPs.  I still have a bunch in progress even though I finished off a few last year!  The following are the ones that I will be focusing on this year.  I have a few new projects I want to do as well.  You can always click the "Long Term Projects" tab to see all the WIPs I have.

Aurora is almost completed.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Gathering Honey

Rose Garden

Country Grace

Christmas Crunch Update and More Giveaways from Santa Nancy

I've been diligently working on my sampler.  I'm still shooting for it to be done by Christmas Eve.  I have no idea if I'll make it.

Now, onto the Victorian Motto Sampler giveaways.  I already didn't win day 1 :( but there are still 11 more to come!

Day 6: Sewing Necessitaire
Day 7: Sampler Chart and 10 yards of floss
Day 8: $50 Surprise package
Day 9: Jingle as Ye Enter - I have this kit, it's such a great design!
Day 10: Surprise Package of Floss
Day 11: 18 Skeins of Primitive floss
Day 12: Entire Primitive Floss Collection

A Christmas Crunch Update!

I have not been posting on the blogosphere much as of late since I have been busy with Thanksgiving (hope yours was great) and then I had to substitute teach.

I am still scurrying to finish everything that needs to be done by Christmas.

I was able to finish up my Mill Hill Santa.  He is looking very cute and is already on his way to my cousin in Wisconsin.

I actually finished all my Christmas cards.  It's a good feeling.  My Christmas shopping is almost done too.

I am still diligently stitching on Zoé's Christmas ornament.

I modified this design so that I used metallic for the crown and there will be metallic on the dress and also some satin floss.  She should look very regal when she is done.

Christmas Crunch

At the beginning of this week, I officially declared the beginning of "Christmas Crunch," that time of year when crafters have to knuckle down and get stuff done on a timeline to be ready for Christmas.  

I am hoping to get Strawberry Fields done by Christmas for my husband but it is lowest in priority right now.  It is over half done.

Right now, I've been working feverishly on a Belle Ornament for the granddaughter.  She will be here for Thanksgiving but not Christmas most likely so I'll have to have it done and get both finished and wrapped before then.

Zoé requested an Aurora ornament out of the Disney Princess book, dispelling my dilemma of not having the proper threads to do the other ornament I had been planning.  I have the linen ready to go but need to get Belle done first.

I finished a knitting project this week as well. It is a loom knit afghan shawl and will be heading to a friend in Michigan.  I'm working to finish some other things for her box of goodies this week.

Also on the to-do list is to finish the Contemporary Wedding Sampler and then knit two scarves.  At least I sent Mom home with her present already!

Oh, and if you haven't heard already, Mel at Epic Stitching has decided to discontinue her Stitch from Stash.  It's sad but I totally understand.  It was a massive undertaking.  I've been part of it from the start.  I haven't decided if I'm going to track the rest of the year for fun or not.  

Cross Stitch Roulette: The Rose Garden

I put all my cross stitch WIPs in a flashcard program on my tablet so I can pick pieces at random.  Today's pick was The Rose Garden.  I hadn't worked much on it.  Got quite a bit done today.

Where it was

After today's work

I also got the roof done for my Victoria Sampler house.

The house panels I had done

The roof panels

Now, it's going to be a lot of finishing.  I hope the house turns out ok.

Contemporary Wedding String

I am experimenting with two replacement colors.  Not sure if I like the effect of the purple yet.  I need to start the heart and see how it works with the fuscia.

Halloween and Strawberry Update

With all the rain, our downtown trick or treat for kids was cancelled (sadly, it was not actually raining but they cancelled it really far in advance even though it probably could have happened).  We dressed up the girls and drove down to the grandparents for simplified trick or treat.

Zoé chose her Aurora dress and Adèle chose to be a witch

Both girls have had a stomach virus for the third time this school year.  It's crazy.  Hopefully we are done.

I got a little work done on Strawberry Fields in between cleaning up vomit.

Fields of Strawberries....

I've spent some time working on Blackbird Design's Strawberry Fields Forever.  I seem to be in a groove.  The small motifs go quickly since they're not nearly so solid as the house was.  The GAST and WDW are definitely shining with their slight color variations.  Maybe I'll be able to give it to the husband for Christmas!

Cross Stitch Roulette

After painstakingly whittling down my WIPs a few years ago, I suddenly have a whole crate of them!  Sometimes, I spend a bunch of time trying to decide which one to do next and I've tried several rotation options.  I had an idea yesterday.  There is not a customize-able spinner app for Windows but there is a flashcard app with a "random" option.  So, I put all my WIPs on flashcards in the app and now I just hit random and I have to work on the one that shows up first on the app.  Call it Cross Stitch Roulette if you will.

First up was my Contemporary Wedding Sampler.  I decided to rip out my new colors choices and go back to most of the original color scheme.  The lavender will have to come out but I'm using it as a placeholder for the moment.

Next up was "Strawberry Fields Forever" which is now pretty much 1/4 done.

Ink Circles

I started this last year some time.  I've never done anything by Ink Circles before and I figured this was a way to try out one of their designs in a small setting.  It's solidly stitched.