A long overdue post

This photo is long over due! This is the last installment of this checkered series that I have been working on all year long. I must admit that this one isn't one of my favorites, although I did like stitching all that bright pretty red! =) I still need to share my last alphabet block on here as well., a nd will do so soon, I promise, not to mention my progress on "Sunshine" and some of my WIP's I have been pulling out for the WIP challenge.

It is weird, I have been looking at some of these projects that I started years and years ago, and i'm thinking "I wanted to stitch that?! why?" Do you ever do that? There is one on my list, "A country mile" and I put it on the list thinking I would like to finish it, but I'm starting to rethink that, but I don't just want to chuck it, there's quite a bit of work in on it already, what to do with it? I can't even fathom what was going through my mind when I started it, probably that I was living at home still with my parents, and I happened to have all the called for flosses for it, and so why not? I don't know!! LOL It's definitely not a piece I would start now.And now I'm wondering if I should even finish it? Afterall, what would I do with it once I did? Give it away as a gift? Ugh...any suggestions? =)

Well, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and have a safe and wonderful New Year Holiday. The hubs is home this week for the holiday, from work, however, Santa Claus got him a PS3, so I think I have seen the last of him for the duration of his holiday at home! Ha Ha! As I type this, the destructive noises of "Call of Duty" are ringing through the house!! Ooooh....boys and their toys!!!

Merry Christmas!

I pray that all my wonderful blogging friends have a wonderful Christmas, filled with family, fun, and stitching!!!

My Christmas is just about over here in Japan, as it is 11 pm here but most of my friends in the states are just starting their Christmas day! Hope you all have a merry,merry day!!!

15 WIP's for 2011

Well, I finally comprised my list of 15 WIP's that I want to try to finish next year, and here it is! Wish me luck! LOL

1. Howling at the Moon Page 3
2. Howling Page 6
3. Howling Page 9
4. howling Page 8
5. Howling Page 7
6. The Power of a Nap
7. A country mile
8. Tree Branch
9. Patchwork Teddies
10. Snow Valley express
11. Dare to dream
12. Achoo
13. The Abbey page 3
14. The Abbey Page 6
15. The Abbey Page 9

Not sure how well I will do, as most of these are extemely large, and have very little work in on them, but I'm at least striving toward a goal, and I like that! =)

And never before seen on this blog...

Well, I decided to join the "Up for a Challenge" challenge for 2011. Which is just trying to get 15 WIP's completed during the year. I highly doubt I will make it, since SO many of my WIP's are HUGE, but maybe this will at least help me pull out some OLD WIP's that need to get finished. Like this one, for instance:

This is a WIP that I started in (I think) 2004, and I was going to originally make it for my nephew who was a small kid at the time, and is now almost 13 so doubtful he'll want this (This is the photo from the pattern book, not my work):

hanging on his wall anymore! LOL...So, anyway, guess who's lucky baby girl gets it on her wall? Yup, that would be mine!! I totally forgot about this one, until I started looking through my WIP list, (which is on my sidebar,by the way, the letters in parenthesis refer to the size, Small, Medium, Large, or X Large)!!! I worked on it a bit last night and again this morning, before realizing that I needed to share a photo for progress sake!! So, this is just ONE of the WIP's I plan to "WIPe" out this year!!

I have not made up my list of 15 yet, but I'm working on it. I may not even make my list 15 WIPs long, since many of my projects are huge! But I am gonna just work on as many as I can and see what happens!

If anyone would like to join us please do, we'd love to have you! Here's the link: http://up4achallenge.blogspot.com/



Anyway, my list of 15 is yet to come! So stay tuned!

November smalls...

Wow! Can it truly be that we are in December now and I am almost finished with these two small series for the year?! Amazing!



And here are all three of my smalls for November!!! Now just have to finish up the last letter for this month and I'll be done. I finished the December block already, but will share that in another post!


I cannot believe I'm at the end of the year!!! And I did it, I kept up with these little things and now I have a bunch of tiny squares to make more quilts out of. Last night I started planning out my quilt for the alphabet blocks, I think I've come up with something. It will also be for Alyssa, to hang in her room, so she has exposure to the alphabet, but I'm not worried about having it done before she's 2 when she can really understand, so it's no big hurry, it's nice to have these squares finished though for when I am ready to put the quilt together.

So with the end of a year come the ideas and ponderings of new goals and projects for the new year!!! Always an exciting time, I don't know about you, but I love the beginning of the new year when you can start looking through your stash to find new things to work on as the new year comes!


I, however do not think I will be starting anything new....but! I must say that I am a "series" girl, and I do have a "series" I am thinking of starting, but I also have so many WIPS in the works I am not sure I feel right doing that. But!! On the other hand, THIS entire year I have not started ANYTHING new, except for the monthly checkered squares, which I started at the beginning and took all year to do. All the other projects I worked on this year have been WIP's. My lambs were started ALONG time ago, back when I lived at home with my folks, Howling at the Moon I started in 2008, The Abbey I started in 2007, and the alphabet sampler book I started last year (I think), so I think that maybe I do deserve a new start! I don't know, we shall see.

Anyone else looking forward to some new starts? OR maybe just trying to thin out their ever growing WIP pile? I have heard of the New start challenge, someone here in blogland started, where you start 15 new starts in January and try to complete them by the end of the year. Sounds great, but I think by the end of the year I would just have added 15 WIPs to my pile and that would just be disasterous. LOL


Well, off to the store to get some much needed groceries! Thank you to all my new followers!!! And my commenters and all those who just stop by to visit and are quiet....I hope you are all enjoying this festive holiday season!

Progress that went unreported!

Remember back in July I decided I would take a break on the lambs? And decided to replace them with Snow Valley Express? Well, somehow in the midst of first trimester morning sickness, then traveling to the mainland for 2 weeks, then coming home and the holiday hooplah starting, I forgot to share what bit of progress I DID make on Snow Valley.

So, here it is as it looks now....



This is how it looked when I picked it up then...

I filled alot in on the right hand side, under the bridge and the last couple of train cars got a lot of fill in. I think that once I finish my lambs, I am going to pull this sucker out and focus on finishing it for my dads birthday in May for next year! This has been a birthday/christmas gift for him for the past 5 years (depending on "Oops, I missed his b-day guess I'll shoot for Chirstmas") It's just that this one is NOT fun to work on!!! It is.....blah! The colors are all dark and dreary, the pattern is hard to follow, and the charted backstitch...ugh...don't get me started! It's just not pulling me in to work on it!!! (Which is why it's continually getting shoved off the map!) And I hate feeling this way about it, because it IS a gift,and you're supposed to feel good about wanting to give, and have furvor for a gifty type piece of stitching, knowing that the recipient will love what you made and yet......I have a feeling that once I finish this piece I will never want to see the thing EVER again! Humph.....Ok, off to work on Lyssa's Quilt Lambs!!! (See? smiling with that thought!)

Remember these little guys?

Well, just recently I realized HOW very close I am to my due date, this baby girl should be here in about 3 months if everything goes to plan!! Which put me in what my husband calls "My freak out mode" I realized that I really needed to get going with finishing up the lambs for the quilt, and possibly start piecing the top of the Quilt.

So, I pushed everything else aside, and grabbed for the lil' white fluffy guys! And this is where I'm at.


This is a start on the very last lamb in the series!

And this is the lamb I am currently working on. The fourth in the series. She is almost complete just have about 100 stitches to put in on the right hand side in the clouds....which I am planning on getting done today, and to backstitch one flower.

I am so excited about completing these little guys so that I can move onto assembling the quilt itself.

So, I think this will be my focus project for awhile, until it is finished, I was going at a good clip with "Howling", but I just need to let it go for now, I got 16 hours in on it for the month which is GREAT! And I got alot of progress on it, which I am happy about, but there are priorities and deadlines to be met, so I need to work on the things that are most important now. It doesn't mean I'm putting "Howling" away completely, oh no,no,no,no....I still plan on working a little bit on it next month since I only have 2, not 3 smalls to finish next month, but my goals for Howling will be alot more relaxed....definitely NOT a 25 hour goal....probably more around 10 or 15, we'll see....Sorry, rambling, aaaand moving on....

Thankyou to those of you who answered my plea for help in my last post!!! Your answers were VERY helpful!! Thank you!!! And to my new followers-Welcome!!! And thankyou for your followship....it means so very much to me!!!

I hope all my American readers had an amazing Thanksgiving!!! I know I did! It was just Hubby and I, but we had fun in the kitchen together, and the food was great, and the leftovers are great too!!!

Oh yes, and remember a few posts back I said a baby Gecko got into the house? We caught him yesterday after he stayed with us for about a week....I breathed a sigh of relief to see my hubby carrying him out the door!!!

Quilters!!! Help?!

So, I am pretty well versed on the whole cross stitch online shop scene, however, I am making my first quilt for my daughter, and need to buy some supplies for Quilting. Can anyone suggest a good online Quilting Shop? I would greatly appreciate it!!! Thank you!!!

WIP...Howling at the Moon

This is what it looked like the last time I shared, at the beginning of October... And THIS is what it looks like now, after approximately 20 more hours work on it! I finished Page 2 and have started page 3!! It's amazing how much progress there is when you actually work on it!!! I have worked on it about 1 hour everyday this month....a little less, I have 16 in for the month. It seems the more I work on this the more I want to work on it!!! As I see the progress coming along it seems alot less daunting task!!! I LOVE these big ones!! And I have quite a few more in my stash, and last Wednesday was my birthday and so I have accrued some more stash money!!! I think I will be poppin' into "Kuston Krafts" Website and maybe ordering a few more! But.....with all the ones I still have to do, maybe I won't afterall! It seems like a great idea though!! Maybe I will save my pennies and after I finish this one, I will reward myself by buying more! We shall see!

U is for Umbrella...

And boy have I needed one of these quite a lot lately here!!! It has been raining almost every day or every other day, and when it doesn't rain, it is just dark and dreary out and makes this pregnant lady just want to sleeeeep, which I do, all day long, and then I get up and feel guilty for letting the weather dictate my sleepiness! Of course it's partly the weather and partly the baby, but Oh well.

Today the sun came out this morning so I actually went for a nice walk, which I think really lifted my spirits and gave me a bit of energy, because I feel pretty good today.

Of course I am on my toes right now anyway, as when I came back from my walk and I opened my front door, a baby Gecko got into the house, and I tried to catch it, but it went under the entertainment center, and I couldn't get to it!!! Grrrr.... so I guess U could also be for "Ugh, I don't want a creepy crawly in my house!" I keep thinking I see it, or I am looking for it everywhere...blech! I suppose it will show up sometime! It's an island thing....

Well, I think my next post will be of Howling at the Moon, as I have pretty much finished page 2 and got a pretty good start on page 3, it is really coming along!!! I have been really working alot on it lately...I set a goal to work on it 25 hours this month, and I have 15 down ten more to go!! I have noticed it helps that I actually put the project out in a prominent place where I actually see it, as apposed to next to my bed where I only see it when I go to bed....

Ok, enough rambling from this corner, I think I am going to go get some more work in on Howling. Or "W", which for some reason I have not been wanting to pick up!!! I am so close to a finish on this series, but I haven't worked on it in a day or so. Maybe I will try to get it done by the end of the weekend. Who knows? Ok, for reals, going now!!!!

October Checkered Block

10 down, two to go!! Actually, as of this post, I have finished 11 and only have December to get done! I just haven't shared a photo yet! This one reminded me of the talking hat in Harry Potter! Just add a mouth and wala!!!

For Meredith who asked about my book list you can click on my "goodreads" widget on my sidebar...all my books are there, along with a few personal reviews and thoughts on some of the things I've read.

Thank you to all who commented, and alot of you came up with a great idea!! why not use a button or charm for the big blank space on my letter T piece!!! Thank you for the reminder!! I just may have to do that!!

T is for Table....and a big hole in the middle of my pattern....

Another of my October finishes, finally being shown here in...November! I'm a little behind...story of my life!

So, there in the middle of the pattern you will notice a nice big blank spot....where a flower, in a vase (I'm guessing a tulip) is supposed to go...but it is charted for one over one on linen, and since i am doing this on Aida, it wouldn't work right at all, so I either need to rechart the flower to fit aida, or I have been toying with the idea of trying to design a Teapot....I just haven't gotten to it yet!

Well, hubby has been gone this week on travel for work, so I have had loads of stitching and reading time, I finished book #69 last night and have only 6 more books to go to reach my 75 book goal!!! I have also put in loads of time on Howling at the Moon. I made a new monthly goal concerning that one for this month...I want to work on it for 25 hours this month, I'm finished with 9 of those hours already!!! So, I am hoping to stay on top of it!! I also worked a little on Petal last night, as I really need to get that one done up, and move onto the last piece of that project, or Alyssa will be 10 years old and not wanting little lambs on her quilt anymore! So, I am truly aiming to have that entire blanket finished by her birth day...what ever day she decides "Hey, man! It's cramped in here, I want out" and makes her debut entrance into this world...I can't wait to meet her!!! Just about 4 more months to go now!!!

S is for Sheep

I really enjoyed working on this one!!! I think it is really cute!!! The little sheep is adorable. I had to backstitch it, although it wasn't originally on the pattern, since I am stitching these on White aida instead of the called for beige linen. But I think it came out adorable anyway.

The colors int he border are actually a bit more bright than they appear here, so I also enjoyed working with the color pallett on this one as well, purples and sea greens, yummy!!

R is for Radish (and monthly Run Down...)

Here is one of the many finishes I had for October...wow! It feels weird to say "many finishes" after the name of a month! I got 6 done, with 7 a close finish (within 7 hours of the deadline!) I had a phenominal stitching month in October!!!

Lets see here were my goals.....

1. September block-DONE!
2. October block-DONE!
3. Letter Q-DONE!
4. Letter R-DONE!
5. Letter S-DONE!
6. Letter T-DONE!
7. Letter U (ALMOST! But finished 7 hours into November...SO CLOSE!)
8. Work 31 hours on Howling- Got 5 hours in! Better than nothing!
9. Finish Petal- Nope, didn't even pick it up!
10. Start last lamb in the 5 piece series- Nope, didn't even look at it!

So, not bad!!! I didn't post as much as I had wanted to either! I still need to post photos of all these finishes I'm bragging about!!! When did I become such a lazy blogger?! Oh well! Well, I started my November block last night, so I think I am off to get some work in on it now, with my cup of coffee. I have already worked on Howling for 3 hours this month! AMAZING! I know!

And with all these finishes last month I am proud to say I am completely caught up!!! And with only 2 months left for the year I only have 5 more smalls to finish up....Two monthly blocks, and the letters V,W, and X,Y,Z which those last three are all on one block! So three letter blocks and two monthly checkered squares!!! SOOOOO close!!! It's been a nice adventure working on these little guys each month, as they are nice and small, so allow for other stitching to get squeezed in after each finish and yet you have three finishes for each month.


November goals:
1. November Checkered Block
2. Letter V
3. Letter W
4. work 25 hours on Howling
5. Finish Petal
6. (Maybe...) Start last lamb in this series)

Well, now that I'm all caught up with my smalls, I think I will have a little more time to devote to my lambs and Howling at the moon...lets hope!!!

Happy November everyone! I hope it finds you happily stitching and looking forward to the holiday season!!!

Stitching my fingers off!

October has been a very productive month when it comes to stitching! I finished something like 5 smalls! Q,R,S, September and October blocks, and right now we are having a typhoon, so I am thinking that I will be able to get lots of stitching in the next two days and I am really hoping to finish letter T before months end. I am going to start it today. And there is still 4 days left until the end of the month so I am pretty sure I will get it done!!

So, here is a picture of my September block!!! I liked this one!! I think it is cute!

Well, I'm off this computer so go settle in on the couch and stitch or read the storm out. I am in the middle of "The Swan Thieves" By Elizabeth Kostova, the author of "The Historian", which was amazing, and "The Swan Thieves" is also amazing!! I have a hard time deciding between stitching and reading!! I only need to read 8 more books to reach my 75 book goal for the year!

Thank you!!!

To everyone who responded to my requst in my last post! I thought I may have the name wrong. The one for writing a novel is called NaNoWriMo....but I wasn't sure if there was one for blogging. Thank you so much!!!

NaNoBlogMo

Is anyone doing this? Isn't it in Nov? I am able to find stuff on NaNoWriMo, but not NaNoBlogMo....if anyone else is doing it or can give me any info I'd be grateful....I'm thinking I may like to try it. I know alot of people just use it as a time to try to post at least once a day...that is what I am aiming to do, not so much the 50,000 word count thing...Any info you can share would be appreciated! Thanks!

Q is for Queen!

Well, so far this month is going well stitching wise for me!! I have already finished Q,R and my September block and have a good start on the letter S. So, even though I have not done ALL that I had set out to do, I have been doing better than the past couple of months, which is sort of surprising, considering the fact that I have also been spending alot of time online playing FB games! Oops! I have also already read (I think) 6 books this month and am half way done with #7, and I have only 9 more books to reach my 75 book goal for the year!!! So, I a happy with my progress I have made this month on both reading and stitching goals. I will share Letter R and my September block in the next couple of days, that way I can post more....I need to. I don't know why I get so lazy when it comes to posting here! I am going to try to be better about that!!

Well, I hope you are all doing well, I am enjoying seeing all the Fall/Halloween stitching going on out there right now!!! I was tossing around the idea of starting some myself, but decided to just keep going with my present goals of my monthly smalls, Howling at the Moon and The baby lambs. Maybe next year! Well, I have a doc. appt. today so gotta get going! Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post about the baby!!! She is doing good so far, and loves to kick me all night long!!! How someone who is so small put so much weight behind those tiny kicks is beyond me!!! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Just incase you're curious.....

Her name will be Alyssa Grace!!!

Howling at the Moon- an update...finally!

The last time I showed progress on this one was in June!!!! I thought it was time to show it off a bit again! Granted I have not done too much since then, probably only put about 10-15 hours in on it since, but this month I decided that I was going to pull it out alot more often! How much more often? EVERYDAY!!! If you look on my sidebar, I have a ticker counter ticking off the 31 days of October for this project. So far I'm right on...I've stitched on it 3 hours so far this month, which is good since there have been 3 days of the month. This project has been in the works since May of 2008 and I decided it was time to get it finished! At this rate I may finish it by summer of next year...we shall see, since once the baby comes who knows how much stitching will get done again.

Along with this challenge I have decided to post my progress on it every Monday. So, we shall see how this goes. I am hopeful, of course I was hopeful about my smalls getting done last month and we saw how that went! I'm doing pretty well with them so far, I finished the letter Q today and will share a photo of it on Wednesday! So Now I've finished my smalls for August, now onto the three for September!

If you want to see how it looked the last time I worked on it here's the link:

http://joyoustitcher.blogspot.com/2010/06/progress-photo-friday.html

Answer to "Where did I find my little alphabet and monthly blocks...

I keep gettting this question in my comments, so here it is, the best part is....they are freebies!!! and you can find them here....

http://www.rainbowgallery.com/freechart.cfm

they are by Erica Michaels...she has some adorable freebies there!!! Enjoy!!!

P is for Pineapple!

P is for pineapple and for posting goals! LOL...I totally stunk at last months goals.

The only thing I got finished in September was August checkered block! Stitching goal wise, however, I rocked the reading goal...goal was to read 8 books, I finished 9!!! So, you can probably tell with that being said, just where most of my free time went last month! I only have 17 more to read to reach my 75 book challenge for this year. For the 2nd year in a row!! Not bad. =)

I am highly motivated by my pinapple finish to really focus on stitching my smalls this month. I am still working on August smalls- just Q then it's onto September's and maybe (hopefully) I will get caught up and finish October smalls by the end of this month! But that means really staying on top of it...Yikes! Can I do it? I know I CAN, the question is will I let myself be sidetracked by reading and playing on the computer? Hmmm...Only time will tell!

Ok, off to get a start on letter Q!!

A finish-FINALLY!!

Wow! It has taken me ALL month to finish this:


You'd think this was some great thing!! It is a tiny little 4 inch by 4 inch piece of stitching, and I am sooooo happy just to have it done!!!

So, here it is 3 days from being October, I am just barely finishing 1 of the three monthly smalls for...AUGUST!! I started The letter "P" for the alphabet sampler today, but wow! I feel like I am SOOOO far behind. I just had no motivation to stitch this month!!!

Oh well! I have worked a few hours on Howling at the Moon, and worked quite a bit on "Petal" my lamb piece, but most of what i'm working on with it is white on white, so you really can't see much of my actual work.

On the reading front, I have read 7 books, and am more than half way through #8 for the month, so I am pretty sure I will have that finished before the end of the month, so that is at least ONE goal I acheived for the month! =) I am SO frustrated with how tired this pregnancy is making me. the thing is, I'm exhausted during the day, but at night I sleep in 4 hour shifts, sleep 4 hours, awake about 4 hours, sleep for four more hours....it's so frustrating.

Anyway, thank you all for not giving up on me....I have been trying to get around and leave comments here and there when I am feeling up to it, but as for actually stitching and blogging myself....It just seems like such a task! but I will continue to look at all your great blogs and enjoy all the beautiful things you in blogland are creating, and I will stitch when I can, and blog when I can. That's all I can hope for for now!

Joyful stitching!!

Not stitching...=(

I was really going to try to make this a very productive month, but the month is nearly half gone and I have done what? Uh...nothing! Actually I have my August Checkered block about a quarter finished, and I have read 6 books. I am so tired all the time anymore, and it seems that althugh for the most part the morning sickness is gone, every oh about third day or so it comes back for a visit. And being the HUGE wimp that I am I go to bed and sleep it off. Hey if I'm asleep I can't be miserable, right?! So, just wanted to drop in and leave a note to say I'm still around, but chances are, you will find me with my nose in a book instead of with needle and thread in hand. It's just one of those times....sigh....

Goals For September

Well, since I have not been around much the past 2 months, I have a lot of catching up to do!!

So, here they go:

1. August Checkered block
2. September Checkered block
3. Letter P
4. Letter Q
5. Letter R
6. Letter S
7. Work on Howling
8. Finish Petal
9. Start Lamb #5 (maybe)

Reading:
finish 8 books


WOW!!! I have lots to do!!! I am hoping I can get it all done! This month doesn't look overly busy though so I think I should be able to get it all done. We shall see!!!

I need some advice!

So, last night I realized just how close I am to finishing all 5 lamb pieces for my baby quilt. I just have to finish lamb 4 and stitch the last one, and I'm done. So with this realization I started thinking about the design for my quilt. And this morning I went right to my fabric stash and started putting together a few ideas. so this first one is my first idea....I bought this fabric years ago when I decided to do this quilt. However, somehow when I put it together this way it looks like too much light blue, and too busy. so, decided to try something else......


My second idea was to use yellow with very little design as the alternating blocks, since every lamb piece has some yellow in it,I thought it would brighten it up a bit, and maybe not look so.....blue and busy.....but now I think it looks a bit over whelming......like too bright!

However, I am going to make a border using these two fabrics and some of the backing fabric as well. I could use the backing fabric it's a dark smaller print with moons, stars and clouds. But I didn't want the front block fabric to be the same as the backing fabric, and I don't have enough of the light blue print for the entire back. I could piece the back using the yellow, dark blue and light blue fabrics, that could work.....I just don't know....if you have any ideas, I welcome them wholeheartedly. I am distraught, since this blanket has been in my head for years, and to find that it doesn't seem to be working out the way I thought it would is sad for me.

Help?

Better do this now, I don't know when I'll get the chance to again....

I really need to post photos of my July smalls!! I never even got around to doing my August ones, but I will, don't worry! However, I figure I better do this now, because we are expecting a typhoon to hit tonight, and so we may loose power for who knows how long, so wanted to post these while I can.



Here's my monthly checkered block:

And here are my alphabet blocks:

I am thinking that with this storm on the way I may find myself with plenty of time to do some stitching, if we loose power. Can't play on the computer! So, I may get caught up on these smalls afterall.

Well, I am off to make sure we have everything in our typhoon kit,(water, non perishable foods, batteries, etc.) and get everything off our balcony so nothing goes blowing around once the winds kick up to 65 miles or higher) an hour!

Happy stitching!

A photo! But! not a stitchy one! =)

Ok, I am in no way going to turn this into a "Baby/mothering/pregnancy blog! But, I had to show you my first baby picture! =) I'd like to introduce you to.....well, peanut, he/she is most affectionately referred to now. My first ultrasound....at 10.5 weeks! Can I just say? It looks a bit uncomfortable there, poor thing! LOL...

STILL stuck on the mainland without stitching stuff. My hubby is climbing Mt. Fuji today...hope he returns in one piece! I was training to go too, but then we found out about lil' peanut here and decided, eh, maybe next time!

I will write more when I return to our tiny lil island, and I can post stitchy pics! See yah then!

Hello, from the Mainland....

Well, I am on vacation visiting my husbands father and wife. And boy am I starting to feel much better! I'm just about done with my first trimester! So, I have actually been able to enjoy my trip alot more than I orignally thought I would.

So sorry I have not been posting or sharing stitching photos and what not, mostly because i have not been stitching at all, and wouldn't you know? Now that I feel better I am MILES away from my stitchy stuff, and my fingers are itching to stitch in a BAD way! I came over here with no stitchy supplies at all! How dumb was that?! But when I was packing, I was feeling so horrid, that I threw a hodge podge of clothes and essentials in my suitcase and that was all I had the energy for and now, I have to wait to get home to do any stitching!! boo hoo!

Drum roll please!!!

So, bad news? I still feel pretty icky and sick........The good news? I'm supposed to feel like that! I'm gonna have a baby!!!! We did a home test last night, and it came out positive!! We are so excited!!! What a great 5 year anniversary gift, right? I can't stop smiling I am so happy!!!

And So the answer to the famous question? "When are you due?" I'm guessing some time in Feb or March of next year, although since we haven't been to see the doctor yet, I'm not too sure. So...This lamb blankey I'm making? Shoot, I may just have to keep it for my baby!!!! =) Thank you all for such lovely comments and happy anniversary wishes, and wishing me to feel better! While I'm not exactly "feeling better" I at least have a reason (a good one!) as to why I feel this way, so it's alright!

Wow! I don't think I've done any stitching in a week! Oh boy, I need to get going on that...I'm just so tired and feeling like theres a bowling ball in my stomach that I've not been up to it! Maybe this weekend? We'll see!

Hmmm...wonder if my baby will pop out with a "Made in Japan" stamped on it's butt? LOL

Praying to the Porcelain god...ugh....

So, you know the sickness I referred to in my last post? Yeah, it morphed into something totally different!!! I have been so nauseaous and just blech-y feeling all this week!! In bed most the time, or watching TV on the couch. I don't want to read, or stitch, or move really...

And I am so mad! I don't know if any of you have experienced this before, but it seems that there is a mind correlation between the last thing you consumed and getting sick! And it sorta puts you off whatever it was you last consumed for a while. Well, for me, it was coffee!!! NOOOOOO!!!! I love coffee!! And just the thought of it now just makes me cringe! =( This has just not been a happy week AT all.

The weekend has been a little better. I felt good enough to celebrate my 5 year wedding anniversary with my honey!! He spoiled me! We went on a tour of a pineapple winery and a beer brewery, and a glass blowing factory on Sunday, on saturday he took me out to eat, and to see Eclipse, and Tonight (our actual anniversary) he took me to a really nice restaurant on the water, it was beautiful!

So, that is what is up with me, I will try to catch up with everyone this week! If I continue to feel better, and try to post photos. I did get my monthly smalls finished before my sickness kicked my behind to bed, so I have those to share. Anyway, thank you all for reading! I will post photos soon! Here is one of my honey, I took it tonight while we were at dinner. I love this photo, I think he looks so handsome! Sorry girls! He's taken!

I love you Hubby! Happy Anniversary! It's been a crazy 5 years! Here's to many, many more!

Progress on Petal

I realized that I had forgotten to post a progress photo of Petal before I put her away for the month. So, here it is:

For the most part everything but the white and backstitching is in. When I return to work on this next month, I will have alot of white to work on....oh , joy....

Man, so far, this first part of this month has been crazy! I usually try to have my motnhly smalls done by now, and I just finished my two letters today, and have astart on my checkered block, which I will share in my next post.

I normally have a lot of stitching time, as when the hubs is at work, I have long stretches of days to do housework and stitching and reading...not always in that order! lol, however the first part of this month has been a little different.

First we had a 4 day weekend, to commemorate independance day, and so I spent much of those 4 days hanging out with the hubs, and with friends, BBQing and basically doing your normal holiday- type things. So, the hubs was off Mon and Tues of last week, then on Weds. was his finals day for the 6 week class he's had to take for his work, so he had 2 tests, and got home early, then we had to run and get me a new dress, for the graduation banquet for the following night. Thursday, we had his graduation ceremony in the morning, lunch with fellow graduates in the afternoon, then a few hours to relax and get ready for the graduation/awards ceremony banquet that night. Then Fri, the hubs was off work again, as it was his b-day so we spent much of the day hanging out and doing birthday type things. Phew....I have to say not a whole lot of reading or stitching time in there for me, but it was a nice week overall. Except for the slight feeling that I am catching a bug of some sort! I have taken long 2-3 hour naps almost every day in the afternoons, and have been going to bed pretty early. And this morning I woke up with a scratchy throat, and a dry cough! UGH! I don't want to be sick! I have not gotten sick at all since we got to this island a year ago. Oh well.

But next week, things should start returning to normal, as the hubs returns to a normal work schedule, so I'm hoping to play catch up on both stitching and reading. In my next post I will share photos of the letters N and O, and possibly my progress on my July checkered square.

Not much work has commenced on Snow Valley Express, because as I started to put a;little bit of time on it, I quickly realized why I threw it to the way side in the first place! It is a PAIN IN THE WAZOO!!!! The pattern is hard to follow and there are alot of color changes....and complicated backstitching! ugh! This project will be a sure labor of love if I get it done!!! So grab your pom poms and cheer me on, cause I am gonna need it with this one!!!

Snow Valley Express it is! Allllll aboooooard!!!

Well, after yesterdays votes, it is clear that Snow Valley is it for the win! And something told me it would be, since I wrote the story behind it, and yes, you are all right, I DO need to get it finished and get it to my dad, I can't believe I have procrastinated this long! Plus, it IS very close to a finish, I less than half left to do.

Thank you all for your wonderful input!! You are all so helpful....so I know who to call on when I move again.....Juuuuust kiiiiiding!

Well, it is the first of the month which means it is Goals time....lets see?


For June I was going to try to:
Finish Letter L-DONE!
Finish Letter M-Done!
Work on Howling-Done!
Work on The Abbey-Done!
Work on Petal-done!

Read 8 books- I got 7 done!
The one thing I forgot to put on the list? My monthly checkered block, but no worries! I finished it too!

Lets see? For july I'd like to:
STITCHING:
~Finish Letter N
~Finish Letter O
~Finish July monthly block
~Work 10 hours on Snow Valley Express (hereafter will be refered to as SVE)
~Work 10 hours on Howling
~Work 10 hours on The Abbey

BLOGGING:
~Post to blog 12 times (3 times per week!)

READING:
~Read 8 books

So, not many changes here but a little bit, with substituting the lamb piece with SVE. I wonder if I could finish it this month? Hmmmm....?? I can try! We shall see.

Thank you all for your lovely input and I will definitely keep you aprized of my progress. I really want to try to post a few more times this month.

Decisions, decisions...help? Please vote!

So, I need your help, fellow blogging stitchers! Some would argue I actually need a great deal more help than anyone could possibly offer, but for today I just need help picking which WIP I should stitch in the month of July.

I really need to mix it up a little as I am starting to get a little sick of the pieces I am currently working on, and with me working on the same couple projects all the time, my WIP drawer isn't going down as quickly as I would like. So, I decided that for the month of July I am going to put aside the lamb series, and work on something different. And that is what I need help with!

Ok, I have narrowed it down to three choices! (An amazing feat, considering the number of WIP's that jumped out at me and clambered for my love when I opened the drawer!)

First up...Snow Valley Express...This one I have been working on since I was in college...and I graduated 5 years ago, so this tells you how long this one has been a WIP/UFO. This one I started to give to my dad for a gift, as my mom is the proud owner of several of my pieces, however, my poor dad has nothing that I have ever stitched....sad, I know, and then this one I procrastinate for YEARS on....I really need to get it done up, so maybe I can send it as a Christmas gift. So, thats option #1!

Option #2: Isaiah 40:31. I started this as an SAL with a fellow stitching blogger a few years back, but we both got busy and decided to call it quits. I would still love to finish this one, and just recently at Bible Study we were talking about memorizing scripture, well, one of the girls spoke up and said "You could just cross stitch verses, I bet they'd get stuck in your head then." Or something like that, which made me think of this project, and it made me want to pull it out and work on it again.

Option #3...Holiday Airing, by Diane Phalen. I love her work, and have several of her patterns in my stash. And I would like to finish this one day, and I thought, well, it's crazy hot out, so why not work with some snow, maybe that will make me feel better! Plus, for some reason, I have been having the inkling to stitch something Christmas-y, so I thought this one would be a great one to pull out.



So, there yah have it, stitchers, now just leave me a nice little comment and tell me which one you vote on!!! I would greatly appreciate it!



I want to say hello also to my nre followers! Wow! Up to 75 now, that's amazing!! I never thought I would entice that many people to my blog, to listen to my drivel. Thank you all so much, it really makes me feel good that my love and hobby of stitching is being appreciated and enjoyed by others who stop by!



Well, I am off to get some reading in, I am almost done with book #7 for the month. Yay me! Last month I got 4 done, so a bit of an improvement, I'd say!



Thank you for stopping by! and until next time, Happy stitching!

Haha! As I was posting this I got follower #76! thank you!!!

Progress Photo Friday!

Ok, I REALLY needed to show some progress photos, since this month I have posted all of 3 times so far, and I talk about the fact that I have been working on this or that, or that i finished this or that, but you probably are thinking "Yeah right! where's the proof?!" So, here I am with my photos, and I apologize if they look a little grainy, its bright here so they kinda look funny.

First: Here is "The Abbey". My goal in May was to finish Page 1 on this one and I actually finished Pages 1 AND 2. Now when I say "finished", I mean with the cross stitching, because O man but do I have a lot of back stitching to do here! I cringe to think of it!! Very detailed all over the house, I suppose I could get a start on that next month, but I have sorta been enjoying the easy stitching of the sky and the clouds here. I thought I would wait until I finished Cross stitching the whole thing and THEN do the backstitching, but I don't know as I want to wait and save allllll that back stitching for last....hmmmm....decisions, decisions....


Second: here is a photo of my progress on Howling at the Moon. Page 3 is coming along pretty Quickly. Most of what I have been working on here is all that dark blue back ground, but every so often I get bored of that and trickle down and work some of the gray in the wolf. I think it is starting to morph into something recognizable...what do you think?

And lastly here is Petal, the 4th piece in my 5 piece lamb project. I guess it is coming along pretty well. I was hoping for a finish on this one this month, but I really just don't think that will be happening! I have actually been setting this one aside WAY too much, I think I am starting to get tired of this project...oh no!!! Not now when I finally have a reason to finish it!!! UGH, I am actually thinking of taking a break from this project next month, and pull out another WIP to take it's place, just for July, just to mix things up a bit. I'm sure you are all sick of seeing the same 3 projects going on too! My little monthly series are the only thing that really changes form month and that is still working on the same overall project, just different scenery. We shall see. I am starting to get a little burned out on these same projects, so it is time for a change....

Well, my dear stitchy friends, I am off to enjoy the morning's sunshine as I am thinking rain will be here this afternoon. I want to go for a walk, it's very humid here this time of year, but it doesn't seem to bother me much! Although after being out in it for awhile, it sure feels good to be back in the cool A/C of my home again! Well, I hope you all have a lovely weekend!!

Amazed and SO thankful!!

So, I don't know if you remember me awhile back upset because I had gotten spammed here, and then I got smart and turned on my e-mail verification, and ever since-no problems. Well, I had never really gone back and deleted all those spam comments. (I count myself lucky, because the person who did it was promoting what looked like kitchen things, it was mostly in a foreign language so hard to tell, but the few english words I saw were clean, and I know some people have had porn sites throw up all over their pages, so I thank my lucky stars for that.) But as I went back (ALLL the way back to 2007) and was deleting these dumb comments, I was able to also re-read all the wonderful comments from other bloggers that I have met here in the blogosphere, and I just got goose bumps, realizing how wonderful you all are, and how grateful I am to have such wonderful people like you to support me when I need a friend or answers to a question, or encouragement when down or compliments when I show my work, and I just want to say thank you, to ALL of you, who I'm sure have busy lives, yet still take the time to drop in now and then and encourage with your words, it truly means so much to me!

Thank you.

June monthly smalls finished! Finally!

This strawberry took Forever to stitch! I thought I'd still be seeing red stitches til the day I died! But! finally it is finished! I hardley ever do the specialty stitches on these little guys, but this one, I did, It was the satin stitch on the leaves, I think it came out pretty well.

Now for Letters L and M:

I had to frog a bit on letter M- as I stitched the bottom line of the border to high, I had to pull it down a bit, actually my miscount was on the sides of the border, I had to stitch in 2 more of those little squares that the border is made out of, so I was WAY short! But, I was able to pull it all out and get them all finished by the 15th...5 days after my intended due date for my monthly smalls, but still, I have 15 days left of the month to work on my 3 larger projects! That is 5 days for each.

And stay tuned for my newest project...which actually has nothing to do with stitching, and everything to with.....paper!!! Ha! Curious, aren't yah! lol...

Thank you all for reading and I will be working on Petal today so will hopefully be able to share a photo of it tomorrow.

Oh yeah and on the Whole FB issue, it has been resolved! Nothing like some family drama to make you wanna flee the scene! It's been pretty crazy and I seriously have no desire to have it happen again, so the page will stay open, I however will be out!! I have too much to do to keep up with that, and if people are just gonna act stupid they can do so on their own time and page and since it seems they have a problem with me and my page and what I write as my status then guess I'll just take my happy behind off of FB and forget them! Right? lol....

Hope to post again very shortly!

Always late, but worth the wait!

Yup, that's me, check it out! Almost half way through the month and STILL haven't posted goals or anything for that matter! Not to mention, I basically didn't even post the last half of last month! But! i'm here now, so lets get on with it!

MAY GOALS REVIEW:
1. Letter K- DONE!
2. Letter J- Done!
3. May Monthly block-Done!
4. Work on Petal- done!
5. Finish page one on Howling- DONE!
6. Finish page 1 of The Abbey- DONE PLUS!!! I finished Page 2 while I was at it! =)

So, Even though I didn't think it would be a great month stitching wise it was actually VERY good! I got everything I wanted to finish and more! I was so surprised. However my reading suffered last month, only got 4 books read, and one of those was an audio. I am in high hopes of getting more completed this month, I already have two finished, so I'm doing ok on that!

JUNE STITCHY GOALS:
1. Letter L
2. Letter M
3. Work 10 hours on Petal (maybe finish it)
4. Work 10 hors on Howling
5.Work 10 hours on The Abbey

JUNE READING GOALS:
Finish 8 books

I have already finished #1. And that's it! LOL....I have been so busy with other things. I am now busy with a Bible Study and new friends here on island, so I don't have as much time as I used to, and I hate that, but what can you do?

So we shall see how these goals go!

J and K and a "sorta kinda mini finish"

Yay! It only took me half the month, but I finished these two little buggers! The things I can do when I deem to turn off my computer!! It boggles the mind!! I also did this:

Yes! that is a finish on page #1 of Howling at the Moon! I can FINALLY scratch it off my goals list! I think it's been on the last two months lists, and I finally sat down and did it!!

So, that is all for today. The sun has finally decided to show up and grace us with it's presence, so yesterday me and some girls went to the beach. It was nice! We are supposed to go again today, but I have been having headaches like crazy lately and another one hit last night when I got home from our outting, and it's lingered into this morning. I think I am gonna just stay home and relax, let my eyes rest a little. Maybe...after all there is reading and stitching to be done! I have no time for headaches! Ugh! Ok, going to go lay down now and relax, and maybe in a bit I will be able to do something productive!

For lack of a better title I present to you letters H and I!!

I will also be sharing photos of K and J here soon! I was able to finish K this weekend and am going to try to finish letter J tonight. I am almost finished with it. And then I will be done with my monthly smalls, and can move on and work on Howling at the Moon and The Abbey, and my lamb piece.

Well we are now on day 5 in a row of rain, which makes things seem dark and dreary, and makes me feel sleepy and just sorta blah...So not much reading has taken place, but I have made a lot of progress on my stitching, so that is good. I sure wish it would stop raining though.

I have been trying to hit up alot more blogs and leave comments like crazy. You all are so creative and inspiring!! Plus it is fun to give encouragement.

Well I think I am off to try to get some reading in while the hubs watches a movie that I don't want to watch, and then maybe I will try to finish letter J tonight as well.

Hope you all have a wonderful day or evening, and I will post photos of K and J soon!

"J", "K", and May

Ok, I know I need to share photos of H and I still, and I will, the photo is on my camera as I type, but for now I am going to show off my laziness for the month!

Normally, by this time of the month (No! Not THAT time!) I just mean half way through the month, I have already finished what I consider my monthly smalls (two letters and a month block) However, the month is halfway gone, or will be tomorrow, and This is as far as I have gotten with my monthly smalls:

Not soo bad on the May checkered block, that is a finish you see there, which occured only this morning. "K" You can see has the entire border finished and a small start on the letters within, and "J"....well, I pulled threads for it JUST this morning, other than that....nothing!

See? I kinda have a system, I like to have these smalls out of the way within the first 10 days of the month, or at least by half way through, thus leaving a few weeks to focus on the larger projects I am working on, like "Howling at the moon", "The Abbey", and my Lamb series.

So, my goal for this weekend is to finish J and K, I am hoping I can do it, though it is promising to be wet and rainy most the weekend, which is good stitching weather, so I think I may get them finished! I will let you know how it goes!

Here is an upclose and personal look at my May block:

Ok, pretend this one is cropped! I cropped it in the edits thingy but apparently it didn't save the cropped one to my computer! Gah! Oh well! And! Notice! I actually did the back stitch all the way around the block this time! A thin line of pink all around the inner squar there! I still haven't pulled out April and done that yet, I guess I better before I do any finishing with this project! I think of allt he monthly checkered squares I've done, this one is my favorite, the colors on here don't do that flower justice! It is SO vibrant and beautiful! And totally pops against that black and white background!

Well, I'm off to get some work on on my letters now. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Bye Bye Facebook =(

HELLOOOOOOO BLOGEEEEERRRRRS!!! Ok, I'm good. I got that out of my system, we're good to go. Soooo, I finally did it! I let go!!! I deactivated 2 of the 3 FB pages I had...yes, you read that right! I had 2 gaming pages and 1 page for friends, family and socializing, with a few games thrown in for good measure....this morning after a few clicks my two gaming pages? GONE!!! I still have my family and friends page, but am now ONLY playing Fishville....I think...I about had a mental break down when Farmville ate my crops this morning after it took me half an hour to plant them all, so I said "_______ it!" and blocked that app, as well as a most others. Fishville, is still open, but my tanks are empty! I don't plan on going back for awhile!

However, I do plan to start focusing more on other hobbies that I love and have neglected for that evil, evil Facebook place....like stitching, and blogging!!! I have set goals, and will not go back to foresaid evil website until these goals are accomplished!

I am a goal setter, I feel best about my life when I have something to work towards, and a reward at the end to make it all worth it... soooooo, of course there is stitching and reading on my goal list, as well as blogging about both and a few other things.... and my reward? Hmmm? Maaaaaybe a tank full of Fishville is in my future.....

Anyway, all that to say I am working on myself, and you all get to hear me blah blah about it! And I thank you all for your encouragement and wonderful comments!!

I will be posting photos of "H" and "I" soon. I am almost done with my May block as well. I really worked alot on it yesterday, and feel good about my progress, despite a horrible headache that has plagued me for going on three days now. I think it is a tension headache or something to do with not sleeping right on my neck, because it hurts the worst when I wake up in the morning. Of course, reading and stitching is causing eye strain which kinda bugs it too, so...stitching (and reading) have both been an adventure, but I am pressing forward the best I can!!

Soooo, I am going to go read a little and try to finish my May block! And! if you see me on Facebook tell me to go away, ooooorrrr, just kindly remind me that I have a pile of books that need reading and a pile of stitching that needs to be stitched! lol...have a great day!

I'm not Sleepy- finished!!

So, #3 is finished for this series!! I love these little guys, they are sooooo cute!! When I first started stitching these little guys, I wasn't even married yet, and none of my friends were having babies, but I thought it was cute and thought well if I finish it I can just tuck the quilt away for someday when I do have a baby...well, then this year I decided to finish this project, with still no one in mind to finish it for, but just wanted to cross another WIP off the list....

Weeeeelllllll.....Yesterday I got the news that my brother's GF is pregnant!!! So, now I have a recipient for my intended quilt...a reason to finish it and make it into a Quilt!! She is due in January, so it gives me plenty of time to finish the last two pieces, and put the quilt together!! I may also have to re-stitch the first piece as well, as when I started this project I didn't have the charted flosses so I improvised, and I am realizing now that the blues and Yellows are quite a ways off from these other ones....but, I still have time to get them all done and quilted up. I am so excited! I get to be an aunty again!!! A new baby to make things for! I think I also have two Noah's Ark pieces that I finished about 4 years ago originally intended for a college friend of mine, who was having twins, and then we lost touch so I finished them,but they never made it to their intended destination.....now they have a new destination for them!! Thank you all for your wonderful comments,and motivation in your lovely creative blogs! After I wrote about not wanting to stitch or blog, I looked through some blogs, and then started letter "K" (out of order...J should have been next, but oh well) and my May checkered block. So, I am back in the saddle again!

Answers to some questions....

Hello, I thought I would throw in a quick post to answer a coupla questions that people have asked me in the last few comments:

SueFitz: You asked where the Erica micheal freebies can be found...at the Rainbow Gallery website. http://www.rainbowgallery.com/freechartdownloads.cfm?ID=11 ...I hope this link helps!

Jules: You asked about how my reading is going...slooooow....I have read 30 books this year, which is not bad, last month was a good month for reading, I finished 7, but so far this month, not so good, I haven't finished even one yet!! I know I know! I need to post more to my book blog! I sorely missed that goal last month. Durn it....:P

Hi! D'you miss me?

Yeah, I missed me too! Just kidding! I have been looking for motivation to blog, with pictures and everything, but I haven't found it yet. I don't have much motivation for stitching lately. Usually by this time in a month I have already finished at least my monthly checkered square for the month, and have at least started my first of the two alphabet squares I have allotted for each month...but, nothing! All I have is a start on "Petal" my next lamb piece.

I have been incredibly lazy lately, I don't know why, but all I want to do is read. I haven't even pulled the threads to start my monthly little pieces yet! That is how far behind I am! I have done nothing! I have only started my lamb piece because it was conveniently already kitted up and ready to go when I finished "I'm not sleepy". I haven't set out any goals, I'm just a blob, a sit-on-the-couch-and-read-and-watch-tv-while-I-half-heartedly-work-on-"Petal" blob. And of course I facebook still waaaay too much, even though I vowed that May would be a NO FB month!! I failed! My addiction to Fishville has taken me over! LOL...but I will not complain about that, as it is MY time, and I have obviously chosen to do it and not do other things, so why keep blah blahing over it. I am disappointed in myself over it though, I just feel like I waste SOOOOO much time on there, when I can be doing so many other things, but oh well, it is what it is.

So, that's my sad life at the moment, bending to the evil powers of my addiction to facebook, and watching the rest of my life slip away....it is seriously time to do the 12 steps....my life has become unmanageable and I'm powerless. It sounds really stupid, but I majored in addiction studies in college, so I often have the tendancy to apply the twelve steps to anything...anything that causes you to be sooooo focused on that it is life changing or causes you to obsess over is an addiction.

Anyway, sorry about sorta going off there! Well, I will try really hard to focus more on stitching and post some photos this week! I really need to! And now I am going to go clear out all my fish tanks at Fishville, and see if I can go a day without it...just ONE day! I know I can! and if I can do one I can surely do two! and so on and so on! Happy Mothers Day!!

April checkered block- Finished!

I still am loving this series! I know I say that everytime I post one, and one day I promise I will stop repeating my self and sounding like a broken record, but these are so cute and so easy!! Oh man! i just realized, I didn't put the backstitch around the square, guess I will have to do that today...there is supposed to be periwrinkle backstitching around the square...oops...eeeh, close enough, right? lol...

Thank you for all the lovely comments everyone has been leaving! I have been trying to hit up a few more blogs daily myself, and leave notes here and there. Also, I wanted to say thank you to my new followers! I can't believe how many I have gotten, and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful people and fellow stitchers to be friends with!! You are all truly an inspiration to me, whenever I have those times when picking up a needle seems like such a chore all I have to do is look over some blogs and I get inspired to pick it up again. You all do such beautiful work!!

Well, I am thinking that sometime this week I will be posting letter H...stay tuned....

I'm Not Sleepy

Here is "I'm Not Sleepy". I started this in March, right after I finished "Raindrops", and am just now getting around to sharing an update! I am hoping to have a finish on this one this month. This one I normally keep next to the couch and work on while I'm watching TV, so guess I will have to watch a lot of tv if I wanna get this one done!

The Abbey

I am, once again sorry about my bad photography skills! This one is sorta washed out up top, which is where I have actually been working the most on this lately! It has just been a lot of filling in of the clouds! I am hoping to have a finish on page #1 on this one this month. And possibly page #2, this one is also a 9 page pattern, I've finished with page 5 (dead center) and 4 then went up to #1 and over to #2, though I cheated a bit, as I wanted to keep working on the house, so started page 2 I think before #1...oh well, it's all gotta get stitched, right?

Sorry for all the wrinkles! I stitch in hand, so with these largish projects, it just gets quite wrinkled!! And I don't want to drag out the iron EVERY time I post a photo! Sorry, guys, I love you but not that much! lol

Howwwwwoooooooooo!!!!

I am impressed with the amount of progress I have gotten in on this piece since the last time I shared a photo...which was in January, I think....I almost have page #1 done!! I am shooting to finish it this month, then it is onto page 2, which I already have a smattering of stitches in on that page,I also need to slide down to page #4 (under #1) and fill in holes there! See all that dark blue at the top? ALL 824...the color I asked for awhile back, that so many wonderful stitchers were so helpful with!! I don't know what I was thinking when I decided to stitch in the entire background color, but oh well....

Almost 3 pages done, 6 more to go!! Yikes!

Todays post brought to you by the letters F and G, and by the number 9...

Here are some really bad photos of letters F and G from the Mini Alphabet Sampler Book by Rainbow Gallery, and I just realized that I didn't finish letter F....didn't fill in the squares on each corner....oops....Just pretend it is, ok? lol

I love these little guys, so quick and easy!!

So, here is a question...it's been rattling around in my head making all sorts of racket as it tumbles about up there. Ok, here's the thing, I dearly want to post more, but I feel weird posting the same project 5 times a month to show progress. Although when I think about it, I love to see other people's progress photos. But I guess last October, when I was ripping off finishes right and left I just got used to posting finishes, and not so much progress photos. So, I need to share progress on "Howling at the Moon" (which I thought I'd done last month for some reason, but apparently did not.) And "The Abbey" and "I'm not Sleepy".

So, what are your thoughts? Does it matter if I share progress photos of the same project 50 times? Are people gonna get tired of seeing the same project? I guess if I just share weekly progress, not like every stitch I make, it won't be so bad....I need to figure out a posting schedule, I'm thinking three times a week, each day share another project....I'm probably making this more complicated than it needs to be, but I just don't want to bore my wonderful readers who take time out of their busy schedules to drop in and see what I'm up to, with the same stuff everytime!

And I DO appreciate and want to thank every one who do drop in to read my drivel and leave me lovely comments!! I do enjoy reading all your blogs and I just want my blog to be worthy of your time.

I hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend, whether or not you celebrate the holiday or not. We had a pretty good weekend, hanging out with lovely friends and fellowshipping with others.

Til next time! Have a stitchy day!

March Checkered Block

Here is how my checkered block for March turned out...the photo sorta washes out the color, the light green and the gold in the checkers aren't really that similar in real life. I am still really enjoying this series, as each little piece is so easy and small that they stitch up pretty quick. I already got a start on April's.