Stitchy Progress in the New Year

Hola! Long time no see again. You know how it is..  Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Gong Xi Fa Cai!

I've been busy and I have some progress to show:

O Holy Night ornament by Knotted Tree Needle Art (from the JCS Ornament issue 2013)

O Holy Night

My cousin bought the fabric and the Anchor flosses for this one, whoops.. this isn't the finished photo (see the border?) but anyway.. the fabric from this LNS in Escondido, name withheld since it's probably the only store I'll be able to go to again.  Nice to be able to visit a real LNS with all the goodies.  And the fabric.. wow!  Pity I didn't take pics. The fabric displayed is no rival to Needle in a Haystack in Alameda (never been, but I've seen pics), but still... coming from way over here, and the dearth of supplies... WoW!  This little piece cost $2, I think (or might be a bit more).  The edges weren't serged so you can see where they're fraying because of my handling.. but even then, I doubt it was exactly the size specified in the little sticker attached to its plastic cover.

Christmas double flip-its from Lizzie Kate:

LK Christmas Double Flip

Do you see it?  Do you see it?  Mistake in the border.  See where the stocking kisses the green border.. augh!   I'll have to frog that soon as it really bugs me. I'm so glad I didn't stitch that border all the way down, and that I didn't finish the right side of the border either.  Time enough to do that when I've stitched a few more words (a "few" - not belonging to the chart - are floating through my head right now!).  I used the "freebie" diagram on the LK site and let me tell you, if you're a newbie, it doesn't give enough information about where to position things.. if you use it "literally", you'll be wrong about where to start the "h" in holly!  Ask me how I know...

Joyeux Noel, a freebie from L'R de Rien:

L'R de Rien

This one was stitched right after Christmas.. I couldn't decide whether to put in the year or not (not a good year), so I stopped the border right near the bird's head, and there I've been stuck ever since.   It's a bad habit, I know.. a few stitches from the finish and I leave the piece "unfinished".  There's the La D Da (just a bit on the border and the initials of my dad, brother, and nephew left).  There's the "Z" that's my nephew's initial (nickname) - just some backstitching left..  and meanwhile, waiting for me are the LK Christmas Double Flip, Whimsey and Wit Advent Calendar, the "A Most Noble Pursuit" sampler, the Pelin Tezer samplers, the Moira Blackburn, the Prairie Schooler.. ah well.

I hope you're doing better than I am with your stitching.. and apropos of stitching.. learning for the day:

"Time and patience achieve more than strength and passion".  

oy vey -- has it been that long?

Ack, again!  Has it been that long?  Oh dear, I lost track of time.  I have no new finishes per se to show, just progress on some WISPs and a start or two..

First off (no photo), I gathered more steam on the floral sampler but lost my mojo.. I was very behind and made the mistake of writing to ask if I could still catch up (this was in June I think), and received a reply only in October, of all things.. and I completely lost all interest in it. Also in October, I read the sad news about Cathey of pumpkinpatch and co and I just cried for her.  I 've sent up prayers for her and the little family she left behind.

I went to LA for 10 days to attend my cousin's wedding (my mom would not go without me), and added a  little to my stash. It was a quick visit with 4 families and it was a whirlwind! Unfortunately I started a new cold again within an hour of boarding the plane so the next 6 days were spent with a cold.  This must have been my 5th cold of the year and as I write this, I'm getting over another one which started Tuesday.  Sigh.  Anyway, despite the cold we had a good time but not enough time ha ha.  I did get to visit a LNS with my cousin - Stitcher's Treasures.  Again, no photos because my camera died!  But I did get to take a photo of my new start:

from Lizzie Kate Christmas double flips.  The black line you see peeking at the right outer edge is stray serging from the edge -- my cousin had a serger and serged it!  Yay!  And when I actually started the border over at my cousin's house,  there was more than enough fabric for another banner-type piece, so I'm saving the rest of the fabric for that.  Haven't decided which LK it will be.  I worked on my La D Da "A Bushel and a Peck" too:

A  few bits of border left and 3 more flowers (I've been re-thinking the plan of choosing another color for the other flowers) and I'm done.

And then there's this Z for my nephew's nickname, which will be done as soon as I can get myself to do the backstitch.

Some of the other things I've been busy with (aside from work, and some horrible jetlag which took forever to shake):

doing my nails with some cute OPI glitter polish "All is Glam"..

the glitter doesn't show up here, but it's a silvery one with flecks of green and red.. from last year's OPI collection (from TJ Maxx, where else?)  I decided to be.. I don't know, a bit more girly?.. inspired by my nieces and my cousin's Essie gold flecked glitter (actually the glitter pieces in that polish - which I still haven't found online - were bigger than the ones in this OPI polish).

So between that, work, sleep, I haven't really accomplished much but I hope to, this long weekend.

Anyway..  I hope everyone's doing well or better!

I have the LK and some Harry Potter house crests for the niece and nephew lined up today.   Nice stitchy weekend, all. :-)

hello, hello

"Hello hello, hope you're feeling fine... "  this is a song from the 80s and I can't quite remember who sang it.  I really do apologize for the hiatus - it's not that I haven't been stitching, it's more I haven't had photos to share!

And why, you may ask.. the problem is my camera!   I googled, and discovered the problem may be that my poor Canon has lost a pixel in camera mode. I can do video, I can review old photos, but I can't take any new ones!  I feel so sad about it. it's a 5 year old classic, love its looks, but sadly it won't take photos anymore.  All I see in camera mode is a black screen.  I have to check with Canon if it can still be repaired but I'm not getting my hopes up as this is a model that was sold in the U.S., not here.

On to stitchy news.. I finished my Madame La Fee quilt square and have sent it by post to the lady who will incorporate it into a quilt.  I've gone back to doing my Maria Winkler "Peaches in a bowl" and started Lizzie Kate's Christmas Spirit double flip-it to be made into a banner.. charts courtesy of my dear cousin..  no it's not Christmas Rules, which I would also love to do.. although goodness knows and as many stitchers are wont to say, I have enough to do to last me for years at the pace I am going!   lol  I won't say I have enough to last me my whole life, but I have enough at the moment in freebies alone.

So.. there's still my Whimsey and Wit Advent Alphabet waiting in the wings for me.. I don't know if I said so in my last post, but I put it aside when I discovered that I was a stitch off-count.. don't know what I will do.  Frog? Go on?  I really don't know.

And then, when I had declared a stash diet, I went and bought a Bleu de Chine chart, and some Nutcrackers charts, and a copy of the Burda International magazine (important note - with the CHARTS!) and 3 fabrics, 32, 36 and 40 ct linen (I think one of them is jobelan not linen).  And I have to confess, there are 3 ladies waiting for me to make up my mind about additional stash.. this will be IT for the year, I spent more than I ever planned (actually I spent more than I ever have on stash in my entire life!).  I hasten to add that this stash is all pre-owned, so I can live with the idea of being a spendthrift better... now to find the time to stitch all this when they finally arrive!

Work has suddenly ramped up (is there such a word) and everyday I just feel so tired after.  Part of this is some organizational changes and the fears that go with it.. I just hope and pray everyday.. hope what, pray what, I think you can guess what  :-o

So hoping that you can send some good thoughts and prayers this way..  and I send the same to you, reading this!