Progress to Share

Good morning! The sun is coming out, and it's going to be a warm, and very sticky Father's Day here in Indiana.  My husband is out fishing with his step-dad. He visited with his dad on Friday, and we will have one of our boys here later today.  Both of my dads are already deceased.  This will be an atypical, totally calm day for us.  I am really looking forward to it for a change.  Hubby and I spent all day yesterday working in the yard, and we were worn out by evening.  I don't have the energy for a house full of people today.  As much as I absolutely love our ten acre yard, it is becoming a bit of work.

Last week, I spent several days at our lakehouse with a girlfriend.  She is going through some things right now, and she needed to just get away.  We hoped to boat, swim and fish, but it rained, every single day.  So we stayed in the basement, and played with paper.  I really enjoyed staying up all night, and sleeping in.  Neither of us were totally prepared with everything we wanted to use for the week, but we managed.  I made a total of eighteen scrapbook pages, and several cards!  For a couple of years, I had a subscription to a monthly scrapbook kit club.  I had never put those together, and they were taking up a lot of space in my overflowing craft room.  I assembled all of the pages last week, and because I had no photos with me, they were incomplete.  I have already added pictures and journaling to three sets of layouts, so I am on my way to getting some scrapbooking done! I will show pictures of those in my next post.

Because I was out of town, I also missed the date for the monthly TUSAL post.  If you don't know what the TUSAL is, you can read about it here: It's Daffycat.  I don't have a large collection of my threads this month, but I am excited about the stitching I have completed!  Here are my ORTS:

This is a dark picture, I'm sorry.  There are a lot of greens in here, and some reds.  The pieces I have worked on include my Life is About the Journey, which I finished in May.

 I am so happy to have this completed! I don't know why I dragged it out so long.  I love the bright colors of it.  I have another piece that goes with this, it may be a while before I start that one.  The backstitching was intense, even though I did a lot of it as I went along.

I have focused on two other projects, working towards completion.

A Spot of Coffee, by Little House Needleworks.  This is so close to being done!  I will have this done in June.  I usually work on this as I enjoy my morning coffee.

My other project is my monthly word play, by With Thy Needle and Thread:

Yep, it's June, and I am stitching February.  I knew I would not finish any of these in a single month, so I just grabbed.  I love the Tomato floss in this.  I stitch on this piece in the evenings, hoping I will have it complete this month also.  I found a major mistake in this last night.  I really, really didn't want to remove all the threads to correct it, so I fudged.  I think I can live with it, if I don't look close, so it's just going to be.

That's all for today folks, thanks for visiting.  I think I'll go make hubby a card before he gets home.  Have a wonderful day!

Playing with Paper

I used to show a lot of paper crafts on my blog, and I have enjoyed my stitching so much lately, I haven't shared anything else. I have been doing something other than cross stitch though!  Although it has been a week, I am excited to show the card I made my mom for Mother's Day this year.

This is a card in a box. I have admired so many of these on Pinterest over the years. I made one last year for my father in law's 80th birthday, I just never shared it.  I made a card like this for my mother in law this year also, and I forgot to take any pictures before she took it home with her.  For my mom's card, I used a handful of die cut pieces that have been sitting in my stash a long time, I don't even know where they came from.  The cardstock and printed paper are from Close To My Heart, from an old collection called Heart of Winter.

The purple in the flowers really pop against this beige! The card I made for my mother in law had pink flowers, her favorite color.  Both moms have always loved to work in their flower beds, this was so appropriate.

I am happy I could send my mom some flowers this year that would not die and be thrown away within a few days.

I used a lot of dimensional adhesive between the flowers and leaves, to ensure the bouquet had the depth I wanted.

My mom was as thrilled receiving this, as I was when I sent it.  Have you ever tried one of these cards? It was very quick and easy to make, I expect I will make more in the future. Maybe a fishing one for Father's Day!

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day.

So Many Options!

When I sit down to stitch, I have so many pieces started now, I have plenty to choose from.  I told myself that I wanted to finished my older projects this year before starting anything else, it's just not happening that way! I have started and finished some new things.  I have stitched on older pieces and not finished them, and now I have started more!  I can't even imagine starting something new every day of May, or even the first week.  My latest start was February Word Play.

I have loved these since they first came out.  This is the first one I grabbed. I hope I can have it done by February.  It is being done on a 25ct even weave. It looks a little strange in this photo, probably because it is zoomed in too much, I just wanted to be able to see the small start!

I have also recently worked on America, America from a Stoney Creek magazine.  Not a lot of progress on this one, it is going to be slow going I think.

I have put additional stitches in A Spot of Coffee by Little House Needleworks.  I really love this!

I was working on this last weekend at the racetrack, and I ended up having to frog out a lot of what I had completed, and had to restitch it.

Stitches have also been put into Marriage Rules by Lizzie Kate.  This has been my obsession the past few days.

My son and wife have an anniversary this summer, I am hoping it can be a gift for them.  It's almost halfway there.

The last piece I have worked on has been my Life is About the Journey.  I only need to complete the bicycle and it will be done! I am just not enjoying this backstitching. I will have it done by the end of May though! ( Did I say I would have it done by the end of april too?)

So, from all of the pieces that I have stitched on the past month, I have accumulated a nice little jar of ORTS.

They are really squished down in this jar, it's hard to see how many are there.  When I combined them with all the others I have saved this year, this is what I have so far.

That's my recent stitching progress, which I am sharing for a Totally Useless Stitch A Long.  If you want to know more about TUSAL and collecting ORTS, you can read about it here It's Daffycat.

Thanks for visiting!

The Nails are Done!

I think it was some time last week, or maybe the week before, I mentioned that I was going to go out and help my son, I was going to pull a few nails in the house he is remodeling. I don't think I ever shared my pictures of the nails though, want to see? It was unbelievable how many there were!

The picture on the left gives a little better view of the number of nails that were there, so close together, in such long rows! Some had already been pulled before I took these pictures. My husband and son thought they could just grind them down, it didn't work. The picture on the right shows a strip of wood still nailed down on the far right. This is where the kitchen cabinets were.  On top of this gorgeous green flooring, there was a layer of plywood with laminate flooring on top of it. The original hardwood floors in this old house are still present under all of this.  If it wasn't going to be a rental house, I would encourage him to bring them back to their original glory. Ceramic tile is going down instead.  It took me four days, with at least 3-4 hours per day to get this floor cleaned up.  I had the biggest blisters on my hands, and my arms ached for days! I was thrilled to be able to help though.  Painting has commenced in the house, and flooring goes in this weekend. In the next couple of weeks, everything should be ready for a tenant to move in. I am so proud of my son and his hard work!

That's it for now folks, thanks for stopping to visit!

A New Month Begins!

I can't believe it is May first already! When I was growing up, and would occasionally complain because the days just seemed to drag by, my mom would tell me, just wait.  She told me that when I was older, the days would just flash by before I knew it. Well, mom was right. I think before we know it, we'll be looking at the December calendar!

It it such a beautiful day today, it feels like summer here. We waited long enough for these nice days, and I have been enjoying today.  Last week, I bought a new cushion for the glider that sits on our back porch. A nice thick cushion, to pad my still tender hip.  I have been very good to do my physical therapy exercises every day, and some days I ache. But today, it felt good to sit out in the sun. While I was sitting, our doggie was busy digging for moles, so she was well occupied. She didn't catch any today, but we got a nice big one last week. It was caught in a trap, she sure wanted to play with it!

I couldn't just sit and watch the grass grow outside, I had some stitching with me. I know today is the first day of stitchmaynia. I did not make any concrete plans for a lot of new starts. I will just go with the flow, stitch whatever calls out to me, old or new. Today, was a new start.  I spent almost two hours at the dealership this morning getting the oil changed in one of our vehicles, so that really gave me plenty of time on this.

This is an older chart, A Spot of Coffee, by Little House Needleworks, dated 2004.  I think I have had it a few years already. I don't think this will take very long to complete. It is being done on 28 ct Mushroom Lugana with all DMC as called for.

See the shadows on my deck? I was sitting under the pergola on our back porch, with my back to the house.  This summer we are moving the pergola out to the back yard, because I have asked for the back porch to be covered. I don't want another full room, just a roof so we can sit out there any time of day. By noon, the sun is cooking down, and it's too hot to sit there. We'll see if this fits into my hubby's summer plans!

I think I'm going to take a walk down to the mailbox before I head out to my Weight Watchers meeting. I hope the sun is shining in your part of the world today, thanks for stopping by!

Stitching Report

Good morning!

I have to say, I am in a much better mood today than I have been for the past couple of weeks.  I saw the orthopedic specialist on Monday, and I have been given the ok to start weaning off the use of my crutches.  I'm so ready to be mobile again!  It appears the stress fracture in my hip is healing.  I am not convinced the issue is resolved though, because I still have a significant amount of pain from time to time.  I start physical therapy next week, and revisit the doctor in a month.  I have to be careful though. Yesterday I tried to move around without crutches a little too much, and I ached last night.  Today, I will use my crutches a little more, and we'll see how this goes!

On to my stitching goodness!  I know that I am a couple of days late on my ORT report.  The 16th was such a busy day. Besides the doctor, we had family that had driven to Indiana from Arkansas. I hosted dinner at our house for everybody on Monday. There were ten of us gathered here that evening. I was busy cooking and cleaning!

If you don't know what ORTs are, you can read all about them on the blog It's Daffycat.  I think it's fun to save these for a short while, I smile when I think of the projects I have stitched each month.  I didn't post a report in March.  I stitched a little bit that month, but I was too busy finishing my BSN. Yep, that's right, I am finally done with college! I have my evenings free to stitch now, hooray!  So, the ORTs in my little jar include a few pieces from March.

There are some pretty pink threads in here, as well as some shades of blue.  I started a Lizzie Kate piece in March, and finished it this month.

I love her designs, they stitch up quickly.  I just received a backorder of a few more Lizzie Kate charts, I just want to stitch them all!

I have also stitched on a piece I started last year.  This was a kit.  It is getting so close to a finish, but i get bored with the backstitching, so it has gone into its project bag for a bit. I hope to finish it this month though.

This is really not a good picture, I'm sorry. I only need to finish the grass and the bicycle. It's almost there! I need this piece done so I can have credit for my stitch from stash!

Finally, because I am anxious to stitch everything I have, I started another piece this month.  I guess I just decided since I finished one, I should start one.  This piece is from Stoney Creek magazine, from 2017.  I love the tension hoop that I have been using to stitch, it sure leaves wrinkles though!

This is close to being finished as well. I need to backstitch the letters for Lake, and complete the bottom.  Since we have not yet sold our lakehouse, I want to frame it and hang it there this year.  The walls at our lakehouse are pretty bare, so this will be a nice addition.

Today,  I am going to spend some time helping my young son.  He bought a house to remodel and rent, and it needed a lot of work.  I haven't been able to do anything to help him out so far, but I am determined to do something for him.  Today, I am going to sit and pull what looks like a million little staples out of the kitchen floor.  Previous owners had stapled new flooring on top of old.  The staples all need to come out before ceramic tile can go in.  Hopefully I will be able to get these out.

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great day!

My update

Once again, I am posting late for the TUSAL.  I struggle with deadlines sometimes, even when I have a reminder set on my phone, as I did this time.  In my defense, the date this was to be posted, was the day I was on vacation in Florida, also the day I crashed on my bicycle.  After enjoying a 14 mile ride around Key West, I did not successfully pull up on a curb from the street. Yep, 51 years old, been riding a bike since I was little, and I failed at a basic skill! Fortunately, I pulled myself up quickly, pulled my bike out of the road before the box truck behind me ran it over.  And I rode back to the place where we were camped before I ever looked at the damage.  I was relieved to see a little road rash.  I have never experienced this before, but thought, how bad can it be? My son has received worse than this riding his dirt bike.  When we started putting water on to clean it, big old alligator tears fell, as much from my own pain, as for the pain I imagine my son endured, quietly.  It took several shots of whiskey (which I don't drink), and more than one mixed drink before we could attempt peroxide to thoroughly clean.  This has been awful! And last week, my entire leg swelled to the point I could not put on a pair of pants, or a sock. Keep in mind I live in Indiana, and it is February!  I had been running three times a week, training for a half marathon.  And last week, I was forced to sit in a recliner, with the leg elevated to help with the swelling.  Additionally, it appears I have done some damage to my hip flexor muscle, and have been on crutches for two weeks now, not allowed to even walk.  Makes me not a pleasant person to be around at times.  Today, I get an MRI done on the hip, Friday I find out the definite damage. Prayers for no tear requiring surgery, would be much appreciated right now!

Now, about that TUSAL that I was supposed to post....

If you aren't familiar with the TUSAL, or ORTs, you can read about it on Daffycat's blog.

Here is a photo of my ORTS since my last post, using the same plastic container

I have done a LOT of stitching! In this photo, I have combined all threads for the year

The colors of the threads aren't as pretty in this photo :(    Just so you can see how lovely the colors really are, here are the pieces I have worked on.  I started, and completed Gingerbread Girl and Peppermint Tree by Country Cottage Needleworks. This was stitched on a piece of Stone hand dyed fabric, I am not sure what count

And the other piece I have worked on almost every day, is a kit I started last Spring.  I am soon close to having this piece done!

There were a lot of different shades of greens in this piece, and some pretty blues.  I should have this done by the end of March. Then I will push to finished another older piece. I am down to 13 WIPs in my stack. I think every time I finish one, I start another small. Having the small pieces helps break up the monotony of some of the bigger pieces though, so that really helps.  I usually work on the small pieces with my coffee in the morning, and work the large piece in the evening when hubby and I are sitting.

I think that's it for today folks, things to do.  Thanks for stopping by!

Cindy