Soul Mates & Dragons

Well I have some stitching pics so you can see what I've been up to.
Not been a lot of stitching b/c of holidays (and we got a Wii for Xmas, so I've been playing it alot, heehee).
But there has been some.

First, here is my new start called Soul Mates by HAED:
Take note I stitch from the bottom left corner of patterns, yes I know that makes me weird, but just so you know what part of the pattern this is. It didn't photograph that great, promise it looks a bit better in person).


And here is my progress on Dragons:


If you want to know what these will look like when they are done check out my sidebar. :)

I can't believe it's already 2010. I will have my 10 year high school grad this year (it doesn't seem like that long, and yet at other times it feels like a Millenium ago) and have a niece turn 13! Crazy stuff. Where does the time go.
I do hope you all have a great new years and here's looking at 2010.

Stitching Goals 2010

Well it's been a crazy holiday. And it's not quite over yet. I've gotten some stitching done. Not a lot but a little. Sorry no pics today. I'm trying to catch up on everyone's progress and blogs etc. So forgive me as I am behind.
However, here are my 2010 Goals I'd like to share:

- Complete another row (so 4 pages) on Dragons (at least)
- Finish (my new start) Romantic Rose Garden (and if I do that I get another new
start in the year)
- Work here and there on Soul Mates (I'd like to see 3 pages plus the half pages done on this one)
- Some ornaments (maybe 2 or 3 again like this year)
- HAED SAL SK Elfland. Finish it along with the SAL (there are 2 pages)
- My poor neglected Castles SAL is quickly becoming a UFO... so I'd like to try
and catch up on this one, but that is doubtful so let's say I get at least six
parts done in 2010. ;)

Hope everyone is having or had a good holiday!

Ornament Exchange Arrived!

I received my ornament in our private exchange today from Meari. And it's absolutely gorgeous! I love it!
Here it is on my tree:


And here is all the wonderful things she sent with it:


Thank you so much Meari!


I have been doing some stitching this week. On Soul Mates, Dragons and the Rose Garden. I have a pic of my progress on the Rose Garden. Here it is:


This will be my last update until after Christmas. We are headed to so many different places to see different families over the next four days it just won't be possible to make anymore updates. So I hope everyone has a happy, safe and wonderful holiday! And I look forward to reading everyone's blogs and catching up in a few days time!
Happy Holidays to all my lovely readers and for all your lovely comments!

Ornament Exchange

I did a private ornament exchange with Meari. And she received the ornament today! :)
Here is what I did up for her and sent:


I was really happy with the new trim on this. Much better than my last ornament.
So happy in fact that I did the Button-ups with the same. ;)

I am not sure how much I will be online in the next week or two with holidays and stuff. So just in case I don't get back here I hope everyone has a Happy Holiday!!

I have from Dec 23-Jan 4 off so here's hoping I get lots of stitching done.
(and I started Soul Mates the other day, but have no pics, sorry).

Dragons Update

I have a Judgement Dragons update for you all. I am about 1/3 of the way through the next page in the next row. Not too shabby. I want to be ambitious on this pattern for next year and make some really good progress on it.

Here is a picture of the section I have been working on:


And here is a picture of the whole piece to date:


Thank you so much for all your comments on my tree. They did make me feel better. The tree is growing on me as I realize that I just can't have everything perfect. Well I have a few more days of work next week and then off until Jan 4. I am hoping to get some great stitching in during this time. I got all my supplies for Soul Mates last night and will start it this weekend as I'm in the HAED SAL that runs until Jan 1. And I can't wait for the first page of Elfland which is another HAED SAL. I have all my floss now though!

So I will be working on Romantic Rose Garden, Soul Mates and of course Dragons through the next little bit.
Thank you so much for visiting!

A new start, Xmas cards & our tree

I have so many things to share today. So grab a coffee or hot chocolate and delve right in if you dare. ;)

I came home on Friday to a great grouping of cards from the lovely ladies at ILCS Yahoo Group.



After a bit of drama and discussion on our tree issues we got our Christmas tree up on Saturday. We are hosting Christmas morning with my B/F's family, so his mom, her b/f, his brother and his three kids... So I wanted the tree to look nice. It's ancient, about 27 years old from my parents, but we made it kinda work... I am hoping that in the next few years we will be in a bigger place and able to have a real nice, new tree. (and then less tears while putting it up). But here is what we are stuck with for now:


And last, but least, I started the Romantic Rose Garden. Even though I am short some colours for it. I am hoping to get to my LNS this Thursday or Saturday to get the rest (and pick up supplies for Soul Mates as I am dying to start it). I may startitis since my day of three finishes. lol.
But here is the start of Romantic Rose Garden:


I am hosting a SAL on this project over at:
http://romanticrosegardensal.blogspot.com
If you want to be a part of it just drop me an email (via my profile) and I will add you to the list. The more the merrier.

Alright, that is all for now. It's enough right. ;)
I am trying to find some good things about the holidays to look forward to. It's a bit tough right now as it seems so hectic and crazy but here is hoping that it will all work itself out.

As always I want to thank you all for your kind comments and wish you all well

Romantic Rose Garden by Chatelaine SAL!

Well I have it up and running... the blog for the Romantic Rose Garden SAL.
If you want to join in just send me an email at m ladner [at] gmail [dot] com.
Just remove the spaces and put an @ and . where appropriate.

Once I have your email I can make you an author for the site and you can post on the blog for the SAL.
Here is the link to the newly created blog:
http://romanticrosegardensal.blogspot.com/

A Yukon Get Together & Romantic Rose Garden SAL

Well I have two things to tell everyone about...

1) A Yukon Get Together

Evalina and I have been chatting since our 12 hour stitch apart, but kinda together as we emailed back and forth last Saturday. And we are going to try and do a stitchers get together in the Yukon (which is were she lives). Our get together would be in Dawsons Creek, Yukon, and anyone is welcome to join us. We are looking to do it over one weekend in July. You would fly into Whitehorse, Yukon and then Evalina has agreed to drive from there to Dawsons Creek.
I am excited about this and trying to put money aside now for it.
If you are interested or want more info, leave me (or Evalina) a comment or email us and we can get you more info. We'd love to have others join us on this.

2) Romantic Rose Garden by Chatelaine (Published in Gift of Stitching) SAL Blog

I am hoping to start on the Romantic Rose Garden by Chatelaine (published in the September issue of Gift of Stitching) in the new year. On a number of boards I have had some interest in doing this as a SAL. And so I am going to set-up a blog for it. The blog would be through blogger and you would be able to post direct to it your progress on the piece and other notes about it.
I do not have the link set-up just yet, as soon as I do I will post it here. However if you know you want in, leave me a comment with your email, or just email me direct (you can get my email by clicking on my profile and then email through blogger).
I hope a few of you will join me in this one! :)
Check out the pic of it on my post here: http://epicstitching.blogspot.com/2009/09/chatelaine-pattern-frame-on-beatings.html
(sorry was having trouble embedding it so I gave up)



Sorry no stitching updates, I finished my private exchange for Meari the other night, but can't share photos until I mail it later this week (and then only after she has received it). And I ran out of the edging I want for my button up ornaments so I will try and pick more up this week so I can share photos of them. I have changed the finish b/c the original instructions confused me and I was nervous, so I have put them together my way. But I think they will still be cute.

Hope you are all staying warm and for those of my American friends stuck in a snow storm out in the mid-west I wish you all well.

Count em... THREE finishes!!

Well my weekend did not go as planned. We got completely snowed in, as we kinda expected. I tried to get to my 12-hour stitch and couldn't even get my car five feet out of the parking lot... it look my B/F and two other guys 30 minutes just to push me the five feet back into my spot! It was crazy. If you want to see some pics of what it was like check out this photo gallery from our local paper.

So I did try to do the 12-hour from home. Not completely successful but did alright. Probably stitched about 7 hours over the day. And Evalina was awesome and did hers from her home in the Yukon so we went back and forth on emails all day which really helped.

But... onward to the finishes! The first finish of the day was the most important, the final Christmas ornament. I am borrowing my best friends sewing machine to get these all finished up this week. But here is the ornament stitched up without buttons:



Then I moved onto... Ducky!!! I can't tell you how happy I am to be rid of this beast. I am very happy with how it looks but cannot wait to put it in the hands of my friend to tell them to do with it as they please. Ritual burning might even be okay. (okay well maybe not but it really was a trial). I'm not sure why I hated it so much, it was quite easy... maybe just too much blue/yellow and just sections of it with no detail. (even though I don't mind working on Dragons...)
Alright here it is:


And a perspective shot:



And then finally on Sunday I decided that while I watched my Dallas Cowboys loose (sadly) that I would finish up my latest pirate. So here is Love Pirate:



I do wish I could have gotten to my LNS as I needed a few fabrics and the like. I don't see me getting there anytime soon now with the snow. but I'll just have to watch for the right day. (and I lost the 12-hour stitch amount for food and stuff which kinda sucks).

Alright, now I will be working on Dragons, want to get back to Castles and am anxiously awaiting the information for my HAED SAL that should be starting soon.

Thanks for visiting and for all your comments!

Potentially Sad/Afraid...

Well... it's the day before my 12 hour stitch. And as a lot of you know in order to get to my LNS I have to leave the city of Calgary and go to Cochrane. Now... it's only 20 minutes from my house, a bit on the highway and stuff. But there is a HUGE hill to get down into the town of Cochrane.
AND... they are calling for a huge blizzard tonight! :(
I am really hoping that I can still get to my 12 hour stitch. I know the store will put it on no matter the weather. I have been soooo looking forward to this day. But now I am nervous. Even though I live in a snowy place I hate driving in the snow.
So here's hoping *fingers crossed* that I am able to get there tomorrow. (b/f has offered to drive me if I want, but then he has to do the hill four times, there and back twice which is silly and really awkward for his day plans).
Let's hope the snow gods decide to like me and give me the confidence to drive tomorrow morning.

(on a good note: We got our Wii last night and played Super Mario Bros Wii, so fun! Hard but fun).

New Start - Ornament #3 for the season

Well I've started the last of the three ornaments that I decided to do this Christmas. One is a private exchange, so no pics until it is sent and received. (I still have to finish it).
And the other two are the button up #1 for my Mom and Grandma. I finished the snowman already (except buttons and finishing) and started the stocking last night. Here is my little bit of progress:


So... it's 12-hour stitch day on Saturday!!! I'm so excited.
My goals for the day are:
- finish the stocking ornament
- finish ducky (I hope, fingers crossed)
And then maybe work on Papillion SAL, Pirates or Dragons for a bit.

I also have two new starts that will be upcoming, my SAL storykeep from the HAED board. I am still waiting for the info so I can get colours and fabric. And then the SAL from Stitchers Showcase. That one I can start anytime... I think. I have to cut the threads cause it's a variegated. Maybe I will also do that on Saturday. 12 hours seems like a long time. But I have a lot to do. :)

I will post pics of what I managed to get done on Monday or Tuesday next week after the 12-hour.

December already!?

Well I can't believe it's December 1st! Crazy. Gotta get on some Christmas shopping and the rest of my holiday stitching.

But first I got my PIF from Meari in the mail. It's AMAZING!!! She is too generous!
Here is a picture of it (the hand-dyed fabric is my fave):


I have also been trying to get ducky done. I'm getting very close! I have the hole you can see, and I'm gonna round out the top a bit more there and it will be done. Maybe on my 12-hour stitching day (which is this Saturday!!!) I will be able to knock off the rest.
Here is a pic:


In other news... I am excited as the BF and I are buying our Christmas present to each other on Friday. It's a Ninetendo Wii! :) I am hoping it will mean we get off our butts to play video games because of the nature of the games. (but of course can't let it cut into stitching time!).

I also have a private exchange that I need to finish up and send out. Maybe a teaser pic of that later in the week. ;)

Thanks for all your overwhelming comments on Dragons last time around. They were all greatly appreciated. I have started the next row already but not quite enough to warrant a pic. But new pics for it soon!
Hope you are all not snowed in, we are getting some crazy snow where I am. But we have survived so far *knock on wood*.

First Row - Complete!

Well I've finally got the first row of Judgement Dragons done! :)
I am so excited. I am really pleased at how it is looking, at least from a few feet away. The stitches are blending nicely and such.
So this is 1/5 of the total project.
That doesn't seem like much after all the time I've put in. but that is okay cause I get to stitch colours other than blue in the next section!

Here is a picture of it:



I did make some progress on ducky this weekend. But will have photos a little later in the week of him. I have also been working on an ornament for a private exchange so I can't show any pics of it. But will show when it's been received.

Gift Arrived and HAED

I was so excited the other night when I got home from my 12 hour day (ugh) to see the package in my mailbox from Shel in Ireland! I won a gift from her blog a little while ago. I knew about the bookmarks, but she put in a bonus and it's these awesome Twilight candies. They are soooo cute! :)


You can check out what Shel is up to on her blog at http://stashofsanity.blogspot.com/
Thanks again Shel! :)


Also... I was bad... HAED (Heaven and Earth Designs) is having a sale! 25% off for US Thanksgiving. And as today is the last day and our magazine goes out the door (yeah for the end of the insanity). I decided, and the man agreed, to let me buy one pattern from them.
Here is what I picked:



You can see it in more detail from there site here:
SoulMates by Anne Stokes
This was a hard choice as there are soooo many I like on this site. But this time around this one won.


So coming up this weekend (I get a real weekend with no work, *happy dance*) We are going to an art market thingy so that should be interesting and I hope to get some stitching done! More progress on ducky, finish that page on dragons and I have a new project, it's a surprise for a private exchange, so I can't share any pics. But once it's received I will post. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Stitching Progress!

Well we are on the last leg of my craziness at work. This week should end the overtime *happy dance*. Just gotta get through this week.
But I did manage to get a bit of stitching in this weekend even with working.

Just for you Nancy M, an update on Castles in the Air! :)
This one was brutal I gotta say. The flowers you see on the left took me forever. I think I frogged once part out three times. So painful. I am so not looking forward to the matching set on the other side, but first I will do the peacock on this side.
Here is a pic of what I worked on:


And here is a pic of the whole project to date:


And I have an update on Dragons, no not quite a complete row/page. But it's close!
This has become tedious in this last little section because I only have two colours to stitch in it. So it's quick, cause it's just rows of the same thing, but kinda boring. So I am doing it bit by bit. It'll get there.
The piece to date:



Well... only a few more weeks until my first 12-hour stitch day at my LNS. Can't wait! And of course the end of this week will be a great relief to get our magazine out the door! ;)

Thank you so much for visiting (and for also believing that I am crazy about my current WIP and new SALs coming up!)

PS. Ducky got a bit more progress but not enough to show. I will try to get him done by Xmas... maybe that 12-hour stitch day will help. ;)

I must be crazy...

Well the name of this blog is going to become even more true if I don't stop soon. ;)
Well... I am going ANOTHER SAL. I know what you're thinking, really three? Plus all your other projects. Yes, I know, I must be nuts. Or just ready for the most epic January 2010 ever. ;)

So I have joined another SAL, waiting for confirmation that I am in but I think it will be all good. It's through the yuku board for Heaven and Earth Designs. It's for a storykeep and it's very pretty. Not sure if I'm allowed to post pics yet so I will wait. If you want in just join the board at yuku.com and there is a thread about it. You can email me if you want more info (email is in my profile).

In the meantime I am sorry that I don't have any progress pics, as I have not stitched in about four days. :(
I have been working 12 hour days for the past few nights so when I get home, grab a bite to eat and watch like one show I'm done for the night. Just too tired to try and stitch. But only one more week and it will go back to normal and then I can get more stitching done!
In the meantime hope you are all doing well. I am trying not to fall behind on blogs and boards at the very least. But we'll see how the next week at the office goes.

Snowman Finish, Ornnament Received, Ducky Update

Wow... that is a long title. But I just couldn't come up with one thing for it all. ;)

Alright... it was a busy weekend... some stitching done, lots of sleeping as I was not feeling great. But also had an opportunity to go to the Calgary Flames game with my friend which was awesome! And very unexpected, she got some free tickets last minute.

But on to what you care about... the stitching.


Here is my finish (minus the buttons) of Button Up #1, Snowman. I will be doing Fill-It-Up from the same set on the same piece of material and then cutting them out. So that is why it has no buttons yet as it's still on scroll rods. My pine boughs at the top are not exactly like the pattern, cause I found it hard to follow.. so I made some of them up. Hope it still looks okay!


I also received my September exchange ornament from my ILCS Yahoo Group. It is so cute. What a great little exchange this was! :)


And last but not least an update on the ducky. I was hoping to have the page of the bottom section on the left done by the end of the weekend... but sleep overtook. ;)
He is coming along. I am still painfully waiting to complete this one so I can start something else... but gotta get through him for my friend first.
(and I ran out of a few DMC colours in the blue, so had to make an emergency Michael's trip to get three skeins, but got those so now full steam ahead on ducky).


Thank you so much to everyone for visiting and all your great comments! You all make my day! :)

LNS Trip - A new SAL

Well I managed to get out of work at a decent time yesterday so that I could make a trip to my LNS as some of my patterns had come in that I had ordered. So that was great.
I've been working some crazy hours this week... two more weeks to go of the overtime to go. So stitching will continue to suffer... sorry ladies.
Okay with that said though I signed up for a 12-hour stitch that they do at my LNS on Dec. 5th. So looking forward to that!

Okay... enough talking and more pics. :)
Here are the supplies I picked up for a new SAL I am going via the Stitcher's Showcase. There is a link on my sidebar if you want to join this group and get in on it.
The pattern is like an Ink Circles (but not) and so I picked a variegated (top 3 skeins in the pic) for the middle parts and one variegated for the border (bottom skein). This SAL starts on Jan 1, 2010. So I will hold onto it until then.


I also got the latest pirate design from Sue Hillis. This is one of my faves from the set:


I also picked up my PIF gifts for the three ladies who won last week. I will be sending them tonight. As I don't want to ruin the surprise for them I won't show you what they got until they let me know they've received it. ;)

Thanks for visiting, sorry I don't have any WIP pics today. Just haven't had any time to stitch. Maybe have some time tonight or tomorrow for a bit, so maybe ducky will get some time in.
Thanks for visiting and commenting! :)

Teresa Wentzler Closes her Doors

It is a sad day in the world of cross stitching... one of my personal favourite stitchers is done.
Teresa Wentzler has announced that she will be closing up shop and is no longer designer, but also that her designs are going out-of-print.
I have stitched numerous patterns by her including; Unicorn, Dragon, Day and Night.
I am of course now I am frantic to make sure I have all of her patterns that I want in my stash so that I can stitch them at my leisure and not worry about getting my hands on a copy.

If you'd like to read more about this you can check out her blog at:
www.teresa-wentzler.com
Or her main store site at:
twdesignworks.com

:(

Dragons... and a question.

Well... I was hoping that by now I might be stitching on Counting Bats by Just Nan. As it is Hallowe'en tomorrow. But sadly that ducky is still not done. ;)
That is okay... we'll get there.

But I do have an udpate for you on Judgement (dragons) by Character Creations.
And with it I have a question for you.

I have gotten to the last page of the first row... so I now have the complete width (the top dozen rows there is the page edge). Apparently I can't count or at least not when I started this... and I started it with only 2" on the left side, and therefore with 4" on the right. So do you think this is okay for framing?
Here's a pic:


I am kinda freaking out about this. As this is already one years worth of work and I just don't think I could stand to start again (albeit I was sick for 6 months of that year... but still...)... so I'm hoping that it will be okay. But that said... I want to know before I go any farther if that 2" is a potential problem for framing?
I have a great framer... he's sick right now, but I hope he gets better soon. I'd take it to him and ask but he's in the hospital... (but looks like he'll be out soon). So I can't ask him. So I turn to my wonderful online friends.

Okay... here are the standard pics as well, the full piece to date:



And the portion I am working on right now in close-up so you can get an idea of the stitches:



I do hope you all have a wonderful Hallowe'en. I love Hallowe'en so am looking forward to it. In fact I'm already wearing my kitty ears!
I do have to work on sunday which kinda sucks. But that is okay... we are coming into insane time of year for the next four weeks at my office... so my stitching progress may decrease for a bit b/c of overtime work. But it will make a comeback in December.

Thanks for visiting and your comments, and a thank you to those of you who answer in advance my fabric question!

PIF Winners & WIP updates

Okay... first off my apologies that I didn't get the PIF winners posted over the weekend. Totally my bad.
But without further delay I have them:

• Silverlotus
• EvalinaMaria
• Sarah Lindfield
(If you haven't already done so, can you please send me your mailing addresses?)

Thank you to everyone who entered. Those are the three that got selected.
Here is the deal for those who want to randomly post if on their blog, and to those ladies above to pass on:

1. Send no less than 5 stitching related items per person within the next 365 days.
2. Items can be DMC, other threads, stitching needles, straight pins, buttons, scissors, ribbons, etc. - a combination of items such as 3 threads, 1 pack of straight pins and 1 pack of stitching needles or just 5 threads.
3. The items must be new and not used. (Send things you'd be happy to receive.)
4. If you win, you must be willing to post this PIF on your blog and do the same for at least 2 people.

Alright... so those lucky ladies will be getting some treats from me. And I do hope keep the chain alive on their blogs. So maybe visit them and check out what they post! :)


I stitched quite a lot on the past weekend. I have a new update for snowman... he is very close to being done. Just needs some pine boughs and the buttons (which I will put on once him and the stocking are done cause then they will be ironed and cut out and stuff).
Here he is so far:


And I got the first two pages of blue on the ducky done! Have I mentioned that I can't wait for this project to be done... now it's dragging cause I've been avoiding it. lol. But it will get done, before Xmas. Here he is so far:


I will have some updates for dragons again (like I said good stitching weekend) and maybe even an update on my Castles in the Air SAL by end of the week.
Thanks for visiting and all your comments!

Blue Ribbon Designs

Well... I was bad. ;)
I have ordered from my LNS this really cute pattern from Blue Ribbon Designs.
For those who aren't aware Hallowe'en is my favourite time of the year. So this is just too awesome to pass up. Even though I have a million patterns at home right now that I love to stitch, I've ordered it anyways.
It's called Black Cats, Flying Bats.
I love that you can do the full piece or make little ornaments. So cool.
Here is a pic of the full piece (if you click the photo you can see it bigger):


And how it could look if you break it up:


You can check out more info on it at their site, it shows all the colours used and stuff, gotta tell you that is a handy thing when you are trying to decide what to order online. Their site is here:
www.blueribbondesigns.com/Black%20Cats%20and%20Flying%20Bats.html
(this is a free plug, I don't get paid or anything just like to give people the ability to check out where I get my info from)

Nancy - I worked on Papillon SAL last night just for you! :) But don't have any photos ready yet cause I didn't get very much done.

PIF closes tomorrow, go to this post and comment if you want to be in the draw:
PIF post

Thanks for your comments on Dragons! You all help me stay motivated on that one.

Dragons and Snowmen (WIP updates)

Wow, this must be a record, two posts in less then 24 hours. ;)

So we got some pictures last night of dragons and my snowman ornament.
Let's start with Judgement Dragons. This is the last page of this row that I am working on. I can't wait to have a whole row done so I've been working on this a lot!
Here is the full piece:


And here is the part I am working on in a bit more detail (forgive the mild blurriness):


I have also been working on my snowman Button Up ornament.
Here is his progress so far. (And I love the silks so much, great to work with!):



I am leaving my PIF (in the post below) open until the end of the week. So if you want to participate and receive a PIF for me and then post your own, please comment on the post below and I will add you to the draw.

Coming up for me, I need to work on the ducky (I have been avoiding him), more dragons, more snowman, maybe some Papillion SAL.
But tonight we have concert tickets to Slipknot (Yep, even girls that stitch can like heavy metal). ;) So not stitching. But will be back at it tomorrow.
I am also looking at changing my layout on here... so watch for new colours/backgrounds etc. hopefully soon.
Thanks again for visiting and commenting! :)

Pirates and PIF

Well it's been a bit of crazy day for me today. Weird stuff at the office... so this is a nice break to check-in and update here.
I did have some fantastic news today... and that is that I was picked by Meari on her PIF (Pay it forward) from her blog!

So she sends me a treat of 5 stitching related items. :D
Now it's my turn to give it to three other people!

The rules are as follows:

1. Send no less than 5 stitching related items per person within the next 365 days.
2. Items can be DMC, other threads, stitching needles, straight pins, buttons, scissors, ribbons, etc. - a combination of items such as 3 threads, 1 pack of straight pins and 1 pack of stitching needles or just 5 threads.
3. The items must be new and not used. (Send things you'd be happy to receive.)
4. If you win, you must be willing to post this PIF on your blog and do the same for at least 2 people.

Alright... so I'm gonna be drawing for three people to do this for. So please comment if you want to be a part of this. But remember you have to be willing to reciprocate on your blog! ;)

I have an update for you of Sue Hillis Design "Love Pirate".
I have been backstitching as I go cause I find it not as much fun as cross stitching. So I hate leaving it to the end.
(don't mind the crookedness of this photo or the lack of ironing, lol). Here is the update:


I will have updates of dragons, maybe ducky and snowman tomorrow or Wednesday. Just gotta get some pics taken!
Thanks for visiting and your comments!

A Finish... that Glows!

Well I had a finish on the weekend... that I'm fairly excited about.
It's just the little moon mirror, but here is what is cool about it... I added some glow-in-the-darks to it and it turned out really cool (at least in my opinion).

Here it is on it's own:



And here it is with it glowing in the dark (huge thanks to my B/F for figuring out how to take this picture):


Edit to this post at 2:30pm... my man came up with this neat animation so I thought I would post it into here so you could see...


And of course with any good finish comes a new start!
And as it's been snowing here (which is uncommon for this time of year) since thursday it seems appropriate that I decided I had to get my Christmas stitching going... I am stitching two Button Up Ornaments. One for my Mom (the snowman) and one for my Grandma (the stocking). They both have made ornaments for years for us kids and my tree is covered in them... so I wanted to return the favour.
Here is my tiny start on the snowman (and yes I did get the thread pack so I have lovely silks to stitch with for these, so great!):


And here is what they will both look like in the end:


I do hope others are keeping warm and not getting as snowed in as we are!
I have also made some good progress on dragons in the past few days and will have an update of them soon! (at this rate I may *knock on wood* actually make my deadline for page 4 on this one, so exciting).

Thanks for visiting

Ahhh.. the Snow!

I wish I could get my camera phone to sync with my computer... so then I could show you that it is snowing outside my window. It has been doing so off and on since Saturday. But not it's starting to stay on the ground. :( Seems like I will be hibernating early this winter and stitching as I hate driving in the snow and tend to go to work and go home right after in these conditions.

In other news I just wanted to update that it was in fact not our family friend who was found the other day. I thank you all for your comments on the situation... He is still missing... almost 22 months now... and for the most part we have all given up hope of finding him one way or another. But for the time being we go back to waiting... and at least it's not the kind of waiting that I have to watch the news for information on bodies. (for interest sake the body was determined to be someone of the homeless community).

Again thank you for your kind words.

Anxious & WIP updates

Okay let's start with what is making me anxious and get it out of the way.
A boy in our area... disappeared without a trace two and a half years ago after work. He was 28 years old... a solid, normal, well-behaved guy. Still lived at home. His Mom was a lady I knew well growing up and I had met him numerous times...
He disappeared January 2007.
Everytime there is an announcement that a body has been found in town I get anxious about it being him. But this time it's bigger... they have found a body... that is either so decomposed it can't be identified as even male or female, or mutilated beyond recognition. Not sure which. But somewhere in my gut this feels like it could be him because they couldn't immediately identify him...
So I'm waiting... on the edge of my chair for an update...
It's just so hard to keep waiting (they found the body yesterday and there has been no word). I can't decide if I should keep my fingers crossed that it is him... or not. Because if it's not him then there is a sliver of hope that he is still alive, however if it is him it will be closure for everyone, especially his family... So tough.


Alright... onto much better things...
Some WIP pics for you to look at. (yeah I know it's kinda boring to see the same projects all the time, but these are what I am working on).
More ducky... I feel like I made some progress on the blue which is exciting!


And a WIP of Dragons. The first is the entire piece to date... and the second is the latest section I've been working on. I thought as this piece gets bigger that this would be helpful to see what I have done.




Thanks for visiting and all your comments!!

WIP Pics - Ducky & Moon

I have two WIP pics to share with you all.
I have been trying to concentrate on the ducky and the moon the past week or so. I want to get the moon done so that my new smalls can be Xmas ornaments for my Mom and Grandma. I will share the pattern when I get there, but they are awesome! :)

And of course the ducky is a gift and needs to get done before I can start Counting Bats by Just Nan. can you tell I'm tired of my projects and want to move onto others? lol.

(and I am still spending time with Dragons, an update later this week, I try to stitch it on Tues/Thurs nights so I will have progress that is worth showing soon)

Okay... here is the latest on the ducky... (ugh blue)


And here is the latest on the Moon. I decided to do some of the backstitching now that could be done. I'm not a huge fan of backstitch and didn't want to leave it all to the end, because then it just feels really cumbersome.
Here is the latest:



Thanks for visiting and for all your comments!
Coming up soon will be a Dragons update like I said and more on these two. In the meantime happy stitchign!