An explanation, some new stash, and some progress...

Well, I have not been around here on the blog much. I guess I can share my reasonings now. My husband was getting ready for a deployment, and he left on my birthday, of all days, about two weeks ago.  Sooo....before he left, I was stressed and anxious about his leaving, and wanted to spend as much time as I could with him, so the stitching and blogging suffered. Then he left, and I have just been in a funk!  I can't seem to focus on much lately. I have just been zoning out in front of the TV watching lots of shows on Netflix. So....anyway, THAT is what has been up here.

But! I have been reading lots of blogs still, and have recently been enamored with some of which the author stitches mostly HAED pieces or other rather large ones. So, I started thinking "I really should spend more time on some bigger, more detailed pieces as well."

For my birthday i got a little bit of extra cash, and I spent it on these three new patterns! This makes 7 Kustom Kraft patterns that are in my stash pile.  

 

 However, this is my FIRST by Mystic stitch. I was not aware that it would be a 15 page pattern.  I am aching to start ANY of these new ones, but! I have held myself to the promise that I will finish the Abbey first!  And you'd think that would spur me on to really work on it, but I only worked on it half heartedly as i watched TV. I have almost, just about finished the backstitching on page 5, and have started 4. (I thought I was done with 5, so went onto 4, only to realize I was NOT finished with 5 afterall, and had to go back and finish it.)

 And here is my progress on Winter Fun #5:

All that is left of him is to finish filling in the white and to finish backstitching. I have very little start on #6. Just about 35 stitches, so not enough to warrant a photo at this time.

So, anyway that is what is going on in my corner of the world. We are int he midst of a winter storm, lots of COLD rain, ice sleet so far, and they are calling for snow tonight and into tomorrow morning. So, maybe I will use this cozy time to sit and stitch. One can hope!  I will be back in a few days with an update of The abbey, and then I will share Web of Life's update as scheduled ont he 30th. 

I hope all my American readers have a lovely Thanksgiving. And if you are battling the winter storms, please be careful out there. My suggestion is you curl up on the couch with a hot cuppa, a nice fuzzy blanket and some stitching! (Or maybe a book! Or a movie!) Anyway, stay safe friends! And as always Joyful Stitching to you all!

The Abbey....A little more backstitching.

Well, I was only able to get a few hours in on this project this time around....again...(my stitching time has been really minimal here lately, but that will all change soon.) I am happy with the amount of progress I was able to get in on this. It seems to be backstitching fairly quickly. I am not sure if I will be able to finish this entire thing by years end, but I think it won't be far past that. Right now I am working on the backstitching of page 5, pages 1-3 don't have that much backstitchingin them, and the areas on the bottom, where all the flowers are don't either. So, I just have to keep it up. I just can't wait to finish the backstitching on this, so I can move on....I have been toying with the idea of starting a new "Kustom Krafts" piece. But maybe I'll be good, and just move "Mystic Dragon" into it's place?  I just have so many WIP's I feel a bit guilty for starting a new BAP.Oh what to do, what to do? Too many projects. not enough time! LOL
Well, I hope your days are filled with lots of happy stitches!

WOL TINY update, and "Jack"

Well, things here are still not good on the stitching front. Too much other garbage going on, which should be resolved in  about a week, or a week and a half. So hopefully then I will be able to get more stitching in. Right now I'm just trying to enjoy some family time. Speaking of family time, here is us carving our pumpkin.  Alyssa has named him "Jack" lol



 

 And here is what TINY little bit of stitching I got done. I did all of two lengths of thread on this. I was hoping to finish this page this month, but that was not to happen.  It WILL happen next month, for sure! I didn't even have a chance to work on my dragon at all.

I hope you all have a lovely Halloween!

Winter fun Ornaments #4- finished, and #5 started!

I did it! I finished Winter Fun Ornament #4. Another thing crossed off my goals list for the month!

 And I worked a little bit more on #5.  This one is a snowman, with a orange and yellow scarf around his neck.  The red in the upper right hand area is a bird, and there is some holly on his hat. I love watching these come to life when I backstitch them!

Well, I didn't even work on The Abbey this last round of the rotation.  I was too busy being upset about life. LOL....And now it's time to pull out the Web of Life and Mystic Dragon.
Happy stitching!

Web of Life and Mystic Dragon Progress update

Well, as I speculated the last time I blogged, I decided to work on both pieces! I just copuldn't help but put about an hours worth of work into my dragon.

But first up is Web of Life:

 

 I worked quite a bit on the pipe and some back stitching and then slid over and actually worked a bit on page 2, over on the right hand side there. I would like to see a finish on page 1 this month, but not sure it will happen, but I'm gonna try!
Next up is this guy:

This is Mystic Dragon, as you can see I filled in more of the light blue, and added some magenta.It's a good thing I am used to stitching on 18 count aida, as it is almost impossible to see where the needle is supposed to go with that dark fabric. So for most of it, I have gone by feel! Which sounds kinda crazy, but it is really coming in handy with this piece! Though I think next time I work on this I will try stitching it with a really bright light/lamp directly on my project and a white surface underneath. I think that will help a bit.  We'll see.

I am still really enjoying these two projects.  I have not been stitching as much as I would like, as I have been in a bit of a funk right now. Some anxieties and other worries going through my mind that just seem to be getting in the way of other things. For one my mom fell last weekend and broke her hip and had to have surgery. And while it doesn't affect me directly as we live a few states away, I am still worried about her and my dad, and call alot to make sure things are ok. Then there are some things on the homefront here that are a bit worrying going on now, which at this time I cannot talk about on a public forum, such as this, but I can later on. So, anyway, just psyching myself up for some recent changes coming up. I've just got alot on my mind and heart right now.

Anyway. Now I am working on The Abbey. Backstitching, and apparently some fill in work that I missed before. Just a few stitches here and there. I'm really not feeling the whole backstitching of this piece. In fact I don't like the way it looks! I can't explain it. It just doesn't look right to me. I feel like it's actually ruining this piece, and it's frustrating me, but I don't know what to do about it, and at this point it is probably too late to do anything about it. When I post it on Sunday maybe you can give me your feedback.

So, anyway. That's about all here. Thank you for reading!

Joyful stitching to you all!!

Saying goodbye to a special stitcher....

As I perused the blogs this morning, I saw that our dear friend, Cathey has passed away. I only knew her though her blog and our mutual love of stitching, but when I saw that she had passed, I cried.

Somehow the fact that she passed in October is sorta fitting....the month of the pumpkin....I know that every year as I pull out my fall decorations, and I see pumpkins popping up all over town in celebration of fall and Halloween, she will be in my heart and mind, and I will say a prayer for her family and loved ones. So now when I put out my pumpkins in October, besides celebrating fall and Halloween, I will also be celebrating the life of a beautiful person, Cathey.

Winterfun Ornament #4- Progress!

Here is my progress on #4. I got alot more done than I thought I would! And I didn't even do any stitching for two of the 5 days alloted for this round. Just wasn't in the mood! This one seems to be stitching up pretty quickly! But I'm not sure if I will have a finish on it like I want by months end, but we will see!

For the next 5 days I am trying to decide what I want to pull out to work on. It is supposed to be Web of Life, but I am dying to pull out Mystic Dragon and get some work in on it, so I am thinking either 1) stitch on Dragon instead of Web....or 2) spend 3 out of the 5 days on Dragon, and 2 with Web.  That way they both get some work in on them. This rotation thing is tricky!!

Thank you for reading!!