Another milestone reached! Snow Valley Express

Well, I did it! I finished all the x stitches in this! All I have left is back stitching!!!! SOOOO excited! I actually worked quite a bit on the backstitching on the engine this time as well, so...I see a finish very soon! I should definitely have it done by the time we go visit my parents in June!  It feels SO good to finally see the light on this one!!!  Thank you everyone who stuck with me while I moaned and groaned through this one, and encouraged me and pushed me forward! 

Now for my goals:
Last month:
APRIL GOALS

STITCHING
-Finish Page 8 of The Abbey-  FINALLY!
-Finish First Ornament in "Winter Fun" series- (no, but I got a good start on #1 and 2)
-Work on "Snow Valley Express" (At least 5 hours!) (Finished all X-stitching)
--PLUS! I started a new piece, "Web of Life" (This wasn't on my original to do list!)READING
-Finish 4 books  (Finished 5)
-Get to page 550 in Don Quixote(Only got to page 487! At least I picked it up! I started this int he summer last year!)

WRITING
-Write 15 letters  (Just barely!)

May Goals

STITCHING

-Finish Snow Valley Express

-work on page 7 of the Abbey (at least 5 hours)

-Work on "Web of Life" (at least 5 hours)

READING

-Read 4 books

-Get to page 575 in DQ

WRITING

-Write 17 letters

-Write 2000 words on newest piece of fiction

So, that's about it! We'll see how all this works out with us starting to get ready to get outta here in June, but I can set my hopes high.

Ornaments Progress!

I got quite a little bit into my first ornament in the "Winter Fun" series! There are 12 of these! I love the bright colors in these! And these are the kind that will really pop when the backstitching is put in, as you stitch along, it ust sorta looks like a colorful little blob, but putting in that nice dark outline will really bring it to life! 

 And I also made a small start on #2, as there were only a few stitches of yellow in #1, and so decided to use the remainder of that thread in #2, as opposed to just tossing it!

However, I think I may be putting these little guys away for a bit, and working on my new start: "Web of Life" in their place.  That way I will have these little guys to work on during the move. These smaller ones will be so much more easier to work on in the confines of a plane and car than one that has a huge piece of fabric. Unlike the last set I did, I am actually stitching these on their own individual pieces of aida.  So much easier to work with!

Ok, off to work on dad's train, I am pleased with my progress this round of the rotation on it so far!

Hope all my readers had an amazing weekend, filled with lots of stitching!

Gasp! A new start!

So, I started a new project about a week ago! This one is a pattern that is in the magazine that I'm working out of for Snow Valley Express, and for some reason, one day I just decided to kit it up, and said "This way I will have something to stitch if I end up finishing the 3 things I am working on (Ornaments, Snow Valley Express, and The Abbey), during my move. Why I didn't just get into my WIP drawer and grab something else is beyond me, but I just felt the need to make a new start, so here it is! 

It is a native American Design with a Dreamcatcher with a  peace pipe, called "Web of Life". The verse says "Humankind has not woven the web of life.  We are but one thread within it.  Whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves.  All things are bound together.  All things connect."  ~Chief Seattle.

As you can see, I have not done much to it yet.  I am actually thinking about putting this in the place of the Ornaments in my rotation for now, because the ornies are nice small pieces I can work on, on the plane ride and car ride when we move. I have a long 17 hour plane ride, then will be on the road as we drive from California to Louisiana.(about a days drive!) So we shall see. I do really enjoy those little things, so not sure if I could stop working on them all together. I'm working on revamping my rotation a bit to fit this one in somehow!

So, yes, I was bad, and made a new start! I think I'm gonna blame all you guys who do the (I think it is) Crazy January challenge....the one where you make a new start every day or something like that? I got caught up reading about everyone's new starts and all of a sudden...wa la! I have one of my own! I probably woulda started a few more, if my Aida collection wasn't dwindling drastically. Oh well. Maybe that is fates way of telling me to work on projects that are sitting in my WIP drawer, Lord knows I have enough in there!

I think I am off to get a bit more work in on this one! I will be back tomorrow with an update on my Ornies!

Joyful Stitching everyone!

I DID IT!!!

What did I do, exactly?! I finished page 8 of The Abbey and started the LAST page of this design!!! That page took me FOR. EVER. I thought I would Die stitching page 8, but alas, I have conquered the monster of confetti stitches, and the never ending page of doom... Ok, so it wasn't THAT bad, but still, it took me much longer than I thought it would!

And here it is in all it's 8 pages (And a start on page 9!) of glory!

I breathed a sigh of relief when I was able to call it a day on that page and move onto the next!! I am hoping this page goes much faster, but we will see!

Thanks for stopping by!

A late update on Ornies- A big finish and a new start!

Well, I did it! I finished The second series of "Tiny Christmas Ornaments" in the book of Ornaments I am working on. These little guys were so fun to work on! They took me awhile, but they came out adorable, I think. So that was a finish! 

 A little bit of a close up on #'s 1-6:

 A little bit of a close up on 3's 7-12:

 And now I am working on the next set of 12.  I made a start on the first one in the series! The pattern is so easy to follow, and yet, somehow, I ended up having to frog and restitch TWICE now! I love the colors, they are so bright. This series has 12 in it, and they are full size ornaments (About twice as big as the little ones I just finished)  So I'm guessing they will be taking me awhile to get done. Which is good, because I only had enough fabric to cut for 5 of them. I am so glad to be returning to the States soon, I seem to be running out of materials quickly, here lately! I am desperately afraid that I will run out of stuff to stitch while I'm enroute. So, I am hoping between these ornaments, The Abbey, Snow Valley Express, and a new one I just kitted up, that I will be kept occupied during the move, until my stash shows up!! And I will be a nervous wreck until it does! Kinda feel the same way about my books as well. I have a huge library of books, both that have been read and have not been read. Ugh, the stresses of a move!!! So annoying!

Ok, off to get my work out in and maybe sit down and stitch a bit today, didn't get much in yesterday, so....hoping today will be better!

Joyful Stitching!  Thank you for reading!

The Abbey Update...SOOO close on a finish on page 8, but no cigar!

 I really worked hard on this one last month, and really tried to finish page 8 and I got far, but I still have a little fill in to do. mostly alot of white. So this is it in it's entirety...



And here is just the work on page 8!! I will definitely be finishing this one this month, and moving onto page 9!

I was so excited my pattern for Morning Song with the Orcas came in!!! But, of course it went into the stash drawer after I swooned over it, as I don't have the fabric I want to do it on, and I went online to try to order some, as I am running low on every kind of 18 count Aida (my favorite) that I need, and the store won't ship to APO addresses.  Oh well, their loss, since I will be moving in 2 and half months to a town that has TWO LNS's , so I'll just pour my money into their pockets! Works for me!

I am really getting excited for our move now!!!

And now something I am super late in posting: Goals!

Here were March goals:
STITCHING
-Finish p. 8 of the Abbey- Almost, but no
-Finish #'s 8 and 9 of Tiny Critters  
-Start #'s 10-12 of Tiny Critters Ornaments   Not only did I start, I finished them as well, and started the next series!
- Work on Snow Valley Express (AT least 3 hours worth!) 

READING
-Read 2 books  I read 4!

WRITING
- Write 20 letters Sadly, I only got 12 written. Too busy stitching, I guess! 


So, all in all, not too bad, but I could have done much better! I was REALLY hoping to finish Page 8 of the Abbey, but I am really close now! I will definitely see a finish on this page this month for sure! 

APRIL GOALS

STITCHING
-Finish Page 8 of The Abbey
-Finish First Ornament in "Winter Fun" series
-Work on "Snow Valley Express" (At least 5 hours!) 

READING
-Finish 4 books
-Get to page 550 in Don Quixote

WRITING
-Write 15 letters


Well, that's it for me! Joyful Stitching!!

Snow Valley Express-Update

I can't believe we are 10 days into the month already and this is my first post this month!!! I was supposed to have posted this on the 30th of last month, since it was round 2 of March's rotation on this one.  So I have late posts...oops....This time I filled in more in the mountains, the blue area above the train to the right of the smoke stack, and filled in right behind the engine some more, so it actually looks like it's connected to the rest of it's cars! I am finding that the more I work on this one, the more I want to!

Thank you all for reading!!! I hope you have a great week, full of stitchy time, and fun!