A "finish", and a "start"

I did it! I finished page 6 on Howling at the Moon, and am now working on page 9! Now I only have 3 more pages and some fill in to work on (you can probably see holes here and there where I skipped...Ooops...anyway....I am so excited! 1 more "project" crossed off my "Up for a Challenge" challenge!

Here's the whole thing:

And here is JUST the part I finished and the start on page 9...quite a bit done!! I haven't worked on this on in forever It feels like, I never pick it up, thinking "I don't have enough time to work on it, I won't get enough put in to matter", but when I do, I find that it actually stitches up pretty quickly! Well, that is all for today! I worked a tiny bit on my parents Anniversary card, but I would rather wait until I finish it to share here. Hope you have a great week! The last week in this month! Wow!! It always seems like the second half of the year goes faster than the first...I don't know why that is...is it just me? Or is it like that for everyone? Hmmm...Ok, off to read or stitch while the baby is taking her morning nap!

Oh wow!! I can't believe it! My first project crossed off my Up For A Challenge challenge...

I did it!!! I finished page 3 of Howling at the Moon!!!! Wow!!! I am soooo happy!! That was my goal for the month, and here it is 10 days left of April and I'm done!!! I'm glad too, because after today I will have no internet for about 2 weeks, so I'm glad I am able to post the photo today!!! Wow!! 5 pages done, 4 more to go!!! More than half way finished with this big ole' monster!!! LOL Now onto....welllll...I was gonna say I would slide down and start work on page 6, but maybe I will pull out another project that is on my Challenge list, just for a change. Hmmm...We shall see. Maybe The Abby....According ot this blog the last time I worked on it was June of last year!!! Wow! It desperately needs some love and attention!!

Thank you for the lovely comments on my progress photo of The Tree Branch and on Lyssa's photo!! I just want to fill my whole blog up with Lyssa Photos, but alas, this IS a stitching blog....so I will try to keep strictly to the stitching updates...ok, maybe not so strictly!

Tree Branch progress!

Here is my progress on Tree Branch!! I finished the little tuft of green leaves sticking out from the trunk of the tree, and have been working on all the green of the tree at the top as well as working on the backstitching all over. I worked on Tiggers foot a little bit, and the actual branch part of the tree that the characters are sitting on. This one is coming along. Slowly, but surely!! All those huge blocks of color are a blessing and a pain all at once. They are great because they sorta go fast in the fact that you don't have to keep referring back to the pattern for counts, but a pain because it feels like it will neeeeveeer end, just endless stitches in the same color!!

Sorry about all the creases!!! Oops!

And next up, a picture of Alyssa's first smile caught on Camera!!! She is SOOOO cute! I know I had a hard time at the beginning of motherhood, but this little grin and cute face just makes motherhood all worth while!!! She kept flashing me a ton of them after her nap yesterday, as if she was just sooooo happy to see me!!! Made my heart soar!!! Not to be confused with "sore"...LOL

I pray you all have a wonderful stitchy day!! And if I don't post before then, I also hope my friends have a blessed Easter for those who celebrate it!!

Tree Branch progress!

I have been able to get a little bit of stitching in on this one, as well as Howling. The yellow border on the left side is growing, and the tree trunk is all filled in, now onto the actual limb that Pooh, Piglet and Tigger are sitting on, and I started Tigger. That orange blob is his foot (or the start of it!) And I finished the bottom blue checkered border. Well, I finished the checkers, now there is some backstitch design that goes in the white spaces. So, it's coming along!! I like the bright colors in this project!! I think it's about time for me to start focusing on putting Lyssa's quilt together now though. So this week I am thinking that my stitching time will be put into that. We shall see....

Well, my mom came out to visit for the birth of Alyssa and she just went home yesterday after 5 weeks! I miss her terribly! =( Yesterday I cried on and off all day after we dropped her off at the airport. I guess you never get too old to want your mommy, huh? LOL

So, today is the first day Alyssa and I are home just her and I, so far not bad. She had a hard time sleeping last night. My mom held her all night, when she was here, as she has back problems so cannot sleep flat in a bed, and sleeps in a recliner, so she just held Lyssa and slept in the chair here. Well, now my daughter is used to being held pretty much 24/7 and after 5 weeks, has to learn to sleep in bed....it was not a good night. I think we only got a few hours of sleep. Finally this morning in the wee early hours, after I fed her, I put her in her carseat (her favorite place to knock out!) and laid on the couch and got a few hours of sleep.

She is sleeping now, and I'm surprised I am not knocked out. I will probably take a nap later today that is for sure!

Not a ton done, but some!

Not alot of progress, but a little!! I have been working on the trunk of the tree, some of the backstitch, the border on the bottom and the yellow border on the left hand side. In between feedings and holding the little one!! She sleeps enough to let me get a little stitching in!! Ok, gotta go...time to feed the baby again....she eats alot!!! Yesterday was her 2 week appt, and she has gained a pound since birth and she has grown almost 3 inches!!! She is starting to get little chubby cheeks now!! I will try to post photos of her in my next post!!!

Thank you all for reading!!! Happy Stitching!!

Edited to add:

PS....Just to let all my wonderful friends, and fellow readers/bloggers know, I am doing fine, the earthquake and tsunami on mainland Japan didn't have an impact on our tiny island. We are safe and doing fine!!! Thank you Jayne for your concerned comment!!! I meant to write something about this in this post, and then had to run to get baby, so thank you very much for your thoughts and concern! It means so much to me!! =) Also if you could keep our military in prayer and good thoughts, as many are being sent from this island up to the mainland to provide assistance to the rescue and relief efforts there. It is a dangerous place to be, what with aftershocks still rumbling the ground, and nuclear poisoning from the power plants that were hit and damaged. 4 men from my husbands squadron were already sent this week, and they may call up more to go. Thank you!!!

Trying to catch up....

I have been a horrid blogger this....year....I was going to write "month", but...."year" seemed more appropriate!

So! I thought that since for most of this week, I will be out of commission, as I will be admitted to the hospital to be induced on Wednesday morning, and will most likely be there for the rest of the week, I would write a bunch of posts and post date them, so they will post during the week. I really need to catch up on my posts, since even though I have been stitching a bit, I have not been blogging about it. Ugh, pregnancy...I can't wait to have this baby!

And moving on to the real reason behind this post....

An update on "Tree Branch" This is a Winnie the Pooh piece I am trying to get done for my daughter. I started it years ago for my nephew and well, you see what has become of it! LOL. I have almost finished filling in that purple in the tree, though there is still alot left to put in the tree itself. I have also been working on the blue brick a brack border, and the yellow border on the left hand side. And I have been putting alot of backstitch in as well. So, slowly but surely this one is getting worked on, with this one, it is just huge bunches of fill in with the same color, which is great, cause you don't really have to use the pattern for most of it, just keep filling in huge blocks of color, but it also gets sorta boring at the same time!

So, there is "Tree Branch". This one is also on my "Up for a Challenge" list. I apologize for all the wrinkles on this piece!!! I stitch in hand so it is hard not to wrinkle such a large piece whilest working on it!

To Stitch or to Throw out?

So, this piece is on my Up for a Challenge list. It is an OLD WIP that I started waaay back when I lived in my parents house, like probably about ten years ago! So, I thought I'd pull it out and finish it up for the challenge, but as I work on it, I keep thinking "Do I really even enjoy this piece anymore? What will I do with it once it's finished? It's not really my cup of tea anymore, plus this 14 count aida is driving me nuts! What was I thinking when I started this?!" Anyway, you get the point! But I have continued on with it for some reason. Mostly I have been working on the big bright green patch on the lower left side. That is ALOT of green, I don't think I will ever get it all in!!

Anyway, so I don't know what to do! I don't really just want to throw that much work away, but I don't want to throw my time and effort into something that will sit in a drawer and never see daylight, just so I can say I finished the thing.

Do other stitchers have this problem? Have you ever come across something in your WIP drawer/pile and think "UGH, WHAT was I thinking starting THIS?!"

The Power of a Nap

Oh man!! HOW did it get to be Friday already?! This week has FLOWN by, and everyday I mean to blog, then never do!!! Grrr....So, decided today was it!!! I need to share my first bit of progress for my WIP challenge. I've kinda been working on a few from my list of 15 but haven't shared anything yet, don't know why, lazy I guess! Ooops. Tired, actually. I have been taking LONG naps everyday this week, plus I have been having to go to the doctor twice a week for a "Non-stress test" for the baby. UGH, and I have to do this twice a week thing until she's born! Grrrr....Whatever.

So here are progress photos of The Power of a Nap. The first is how it looked when I brought it out into the light again and the second is how it looks now, it doesn't look like much progress but I worked on it a few hours.

You can hardly see it, but I added some light blue half stitches to the blanket, and then the dogs nose and some grey on his belly. This one is a small one, so it should be easy to finish soon, as long as I keep working on it. Which lately I have mostly been working on "Sunshine", so I can get that blanket finished before the baby gets here.

Well, off to get something done before I have to go to the doctors appointment. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

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! =)