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!

Late to the Party

My dear friends, I am late with my TUSAL report. I had good intentions. I started to type this post two days ago, and realized I was too early. Instead of typing and scheduling it, I waited because I thought I would get to it on time. Instead, I was caught off guard with picking up the dear granddaughter from school, and having her stay the night with us. I was unprepared for her, but loved it nonetheless.

Back to business-TUSAL. A Totally Useless Stitch Along. I have participated with this in the past, but it has been a while. I have been stitching up a storm the past few months, so maybe I will be able to participate with this all year. What is a TUSAL you might ask? To get all the details, check out Daffycat's blog, she hosts this fine adventure!

In my picture below, I have my ORTs from the past month. There were some that got pitched when I was stitching in the car, but overall, I was pretty tight with my threads. They aren't cheap, so I use as much as I can squeeze out of them!

This little plastic tube is about six inches tall. It has been perfect to keep beside my stitching chair, and with a lid, the pieces don't fall out when my puppy knocks it over.

I can't show the threads without also showing what I have stitched. I have finished two pieces already this month! I am participating in Stitch From Stash on Facebook, so I have every intention of finishing more of my works in progress.

My most recent finish is this piece Simplicity, by Little House Needleworks.  I started this two years ago right after my dad died.  I had only done a couple of rows on the sheep, and put it away.  I struggled with linen, but I was stitching in hand.  Now that I have started using a tension hoop, it is much better. I have the entire series of these Little Sheep Virtues.  I am participating in the Facebook series SAL, so maybe these will be out of my stash pile this year.

Another finish this month was by Lizzie Kate.

I bought this as a kit in December, it had the fabric and buttons with the chart.  This stitched up so quickly and I loved it! I bought a frame yesterday and next Christmas it will be displayed.

I had a few other pieces I have finished stitching, might as well show them since we're here.

The bookmark I started for my granddaughter this past fall. It took longer than I thought it would, but it is fully finished. This had a lot of backstitching, but I don't mind it.

Another Lizzie Kate piece, A Little Snow. This is really not a good picture, I don't think you can see the brass charm on the letter S.  I bought this as a kit three years ago, it came complete with charm, beads and fabric. I don't know why it took so long to get to this, I completed it in only a couple of weeks! I can't wait to display this next winter.

And my biggest accomplishment-

Autumn ABCs by Little House Needleworks.  I did this in one month as a SAL with the Facebook group.  I absolutely loved stitching this.  I have the needlework ABC piece to do, all kitted up.  After I complete a few more pieces, I will buy the Winter ABCs pattern.  I don't think I am very happy with the mat on this piece. I think it is just too big like this.  I am going to leave it together for now, but I see myself having this redone in the future, taking the mat out.  I also think the white floss doesn't show very well on the fabric I chose.  Maybe I'll just have to restitch it on something else! Since my walls are blue, this really looks nice hanging up.  I left it up until just yesterday, when I moved it to another room.  I know Autumn is over, but I didn't want to hide it away. It is in the guest room, only my granddaughter goes in there, she didn't even notice it, so I think it will be ok.

Well, that's quite a bit of sharing for today.  Several pieces finished.  Maybe next week I will have to show the pieces I picked up from the framer this week.   It feels good to finally be really enjoying my stitching goodies.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

TUSAL update

Hello my blogging friends! I'm excited to share an update of a few things I've been up to lately. Believe me, I've been busy with a LOT of stuff, but I'm really only interested in sharing the fun stuff, some stitching! I haven't had much time for stitching in the past year, but I've been squeaking out a few minutes almost every day this month, and it's made a difference in my unfinished projects.

Last year, I saved my ORTS, and since I didn't have much stitching time, and no time to post my TUSAL updates, I pitched everything. I've started saving them again, and have a little bit to show this month. In case you aren't familiar with the TUSAL update, or why anyone would save their thread pieces, you can find info here.

I have what feel like is a million of the Crystal Light plastic containers, and the smaller one is perfect for saving my threads!  I have a lot of fall colors in these threads, since I worked on, and FINISHED this project, yeah! This piece is Autumn Tree by the Trilogy. I've had it in my basket for years, never finished. Unfortunately, when I bought the chart, I didn't buy the buttons. On a good note, when hubby and I went to Northern Indiana for our 30th anniversary this month, he was so sweet to go check out a needlework shop with me, and I was able to purchase the shop's very last package of the required buttons, how lucky was that! One unfinished project checked off the list.

I have another very small project I started last year, and was able to finish this month

This is a very small Christmas ornament, I hope to finish up for my granddaughter, before her parents get their tree up at the end of the year! I found a book of Christmas ornaments at my local library, and this was a quick stitch while I was sitting in a hospital waiting room, while my husband had surgery.

Another project I completed after many, many years. From the magazine, For the Love of Cross Stitch, 1993:

This is too funny, I have changed the direction on this photo a dozen times in my photo library, and when I upload it here, I can get it to go every direction, except the one I want! I think it's been a little too long since I've played on blogger, and not being very computer savvy in the first place, I give up. Don't look too close, just laugh at my lack of ability, and let's move on.






Believe it or not, with my limited stitch time, I had one more piece that I completed! I have so many projects that recommended being stitched on linen, but I have always been so intimidated by it. I have purchased several pieces of linen with my charts, and I was determined I was going to master stitching on it. The first piece I attempted was by Little House Needleworks, but I got scared so quickly, and never quite got the first stitches in. I tried again on this chart. It's far from perfect, but I was excited to attempt something new with my stitching. I still find linen a little intimidating, but I think I will continue to work on it. I don't remember the name of this piece or the designer, but I really enjoyed working on, and completing this one.

I have a couple of first year anniversaries later this year, and if I can get this "finished" finished, it might make a nice anniversary gift.

Several pieces completed off my works in progress! I feel like I've really done a lot, with the limited time I've had to work on anything.

Thanks for stopping by to visit!

Stitching Update

Last week, I had hoped to post an update on the little bit of stitching I've been doing. There's not a lot to show, but the project is coming along nicely

Of course, it's still a work in progress, so I haven't ironed the wrinkles out yet. I had hoped to have this done by now, but looks like I'll have to adjust, maybe it'll be done by Christmas. I've been pretty determined to get this done, haven't worked on any other WIP at the moment.

Last Saturday, my guys and I did our annual event-hubby, young son and I ran the Spotlight on Nursing 5K in Indianapolis. Since the money raised goes towards nursing scholarships, we run it every year. I had my best run time yet this year, not fast by any means, but my best time. This'll be the last time young son will run this with us, since he'll head off to college next fall. I'm not adjusting well to the thought of my baby growing up and leaving home, but guess it's going to happen whether I want it to or not!


My last bit of fun to share is that I've joined another swap with Chaotic Goddess! I have really enjoyed the swaps I've done, and I think this will be fun too-it's Swapoween! This'll be a perfect excuse to go shopping for all the Halloween items I don't typically buy for myself, but I think are so much fun! Check out my swap partner, Kristin's blog if you get a chance. We'll be shipping our boxes to each other at the end of this week, it's as exciting to ship as it is to receive! Next week I'll post the goodies I receive, so come and back and see how we did for each other!

Thanks for stopping to visit, enjoy the rest of your week

My "Journey" is complete

Since the title of my cross stitch piece I have focused on was "Joy in the Journey" I thought this seemed like an appropriate title today! I have finally completed this piece, my first finish of the year, and I couldn't be happier!

I started this in November, and I think I have completed it in record time, for me anyway. I should have pressed it, but I was just happy to be able to put it away, and pull out a project with not so much green on it! I have a couple of other WIP I'll get back to now, one being a Christmas piece. I'm looking forward to working with the red!

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

IHSW Update

I was so excited about how much stitching I was able to squeeze in over the weekend, I just couldn't wait to share. This piece is getting so closed to being finished, maybe next month's IHSW weekend, I will be working on something else! Here i what I started the weekend with:

And this is what I had when I finally put it down to try to sleep last night

I'm so anxious to see this complete, and ironed! How about you, did you get to stitch, or craft this past weekend? Let me know what you worked on, I'd love to stop by and check it out!

Little House Progress

We've had a couple of rainy, wanna stay inside kind of days here in central Indiana. These are my favorite days, when I can sit with some needlework. My youngest son and I have found a tv series on Netflix that we have been watching obsessively, and I have taken the opportunity to put a few cross stitches in my Little House project, while we sit. Here is the newest version of the house:

I re-stitched the tree and house that I had pulled out last week, and added quite a bit more. At this point, it's more than halfway done, and I love the way it's turning out. I have a homeowner's association meeting to attend tonight, or I'd probably be stitching away the evening. Maybe I can make some progress throughout the week. Thanks for stopping by!

Simply Stitchin

I'm going to switch gears around a little bit today. I've been participating in the Mojo Monday card sketches for the last couple of weeks, and I love doing those! I've also participated in the LOAD challenges over at Let's Scrap. For a change of pace this weekend, I picked up one of my favorite hobbies, a little bit of cross stitch. My college roommate taught me to stitch, way back in the '80's, and I was immediately hooked. At the moment, I probably have at least a dozen cross stitch projects started, and I don't always work on the same one. Here is a peek at the one I worked on recently:

This chart was in a copy of For the Love of Cross Stitch magazine from 2000. I have always wanted to complete this, and I finally started it this summer. It was stitching up fast and easy, until I realized I had miscounted. As you can see in the picture, I had to remove the tree to the right of my letters, as well as a little bit of the house. It gets frustrating having to pull out stitches, but I've waited a long time to do this, so I wanted it done right! As the days are getting colder, I'll probably get more stitching done. I love curling up with a light quilt and my needle and floss. Dinner's been sitting in the slow cooker all day, so maybe I'll put in a few stitches tonight. Thanks for stopping by!