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".  

a give-away at Naughts and Crosses

Caitlin over at Naughts and Crosses is having a give-away.. any pattern from her Etsy store!
Head on over quick to http://mangogirl-naughtscrossstitches.blogspot.com/
It ends December 8 (that's today, I hope she means end-of-the-day!)

VMS - still more floss!

Still more floss.. 25 skeins of the 1795 Sampler Collection colors - your choice, per the generous Ms. Nancy!

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe - 3rd day of Christmas Giftaway

Nancy of Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having a giveaway - 10 skeins of new floss colors, how nice!
Go to her website and sign up - drawing is on the 16th!

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. :-)

blogworld giveaway from linda lee

for some reason my blogworld giveaway gadget on the side bar isn't working.. so i'll post this instead. ms. linda lee of cross'n my stitches is having a non-stitchy giveaway and i'd like to spread the word... she does lovely stitching and has a colorful garden!  take a peek at her work..:-)

an update!

hello, along the lines of "what was i thinking?", i present my latest progress on "Dreams".  everyone else in the SAL is on the homestretch and here am i, plodding on stage 1, lol.
the entire bottom is almost done, with my fabric looking a little the worse for wear:

okay, now what did i do? it says i inserted a jump break, whatever that is...