An Update

So you'll all have to forgive me for being a bit absent. Both on commenting on your blogs (though I think I'm caught up now) and in posting here.
There has not been alot of stitching going on. I've been working some more crazy hours at the office and with the freelance project on top of that it's been interesting... to say the least.
The B/F and I were also at a wedding on the weekend, did a photo shoot on Sunday and are of course back at work today! Whew it just never ends.
However we both have three days off this week starting Wednesday with Canada Day (it's Canada's independance day equivalent). And then its the beginning of the Calgary Stampede here which is a ten day long exhibition of craziness.
So we are looking forward to some time off (another wedding on thursday) and hiking and such.
In all of this I really hope that I get some more stitching done and I will post pics when I can. Hopefully later in the week.
So until then, I thank you all for visiting and commenting. You are all so great! And I will update when I can.

Stitchy Update

Well there has again been not a ton of stitching in the last little bit. We had a bunch of family stuff on the weekend and I have spent the last two days trying to catch up from being offline for the weekend. Seems like that is what will have to continue to happen while we are in the summer and I am out all the time!

But I do have a few pictures to share.
This is the progress on my ducky. It looks like a duck... more or less.
I was hoping to have this one done for July. It will be more like August likely but hopefully before fall!


And I have been working away on my Xmas ornament that is shaping up nicely. This is for an exchange on my ILCS group that is due complete and in the hands of the moderator July 22. So I want to get it going good and done in the next week or two. So it is getting the most attention.


Coming up: I will be doing a night of Judgement I think on Thursday and see about doing updated photos on him them. In the meantime I am working on my normal WIP (you can see them all in my sidebar) and looking forward to a few days off I get next week. I can't wait, it's very busy at my office again and around here, busy means stressful. So here's hoping I can get some chill days next week.

Judgement & Pirate Update

Well I have a few small updates.
I have not been stitching a lot but have gotten a bit more on the pirate done during my lunch hours.
Here is where he is at.
I am also thinking I am going to get the Love Pirate from the same collection next time I'm in at my LNS, as I just do love these designs so much!



I also have an update on Judgement. I think this is two (or maybe only one) night of work on it since the last update. But it is coming along! I felt like I accomplished alot last night on the dragons (though I was stitching in areas without confetti and that does make a difference).
Here is where Judgement is at:


Coming up: Just more work on my WIP. I know not super exciting but alas that is how "epic" stitching goes when you're pieces are always so big.

Thanks for your comments and for visiting!

Weekend update... but a lack of stitching

Well it's already tuesday and I feel like I haven't stitched since last week... which is almost true. Life kinda got away from me the last few days and over the weekend.
There wasn't alot of stitching because we went to see the Offspring in concert on Friday night. It was fantastic!

Then we went hiking (late cause the night before was one of those 3am kinda deals) out in the Canadian Rockies, just outside of Canmore.
The trail is called Heart Creek, there are lots of climbers climbing the cliff face. We climbed up a scramble route and got to the top of the falls that you can't see from below because they are wedged between the rocks. It was so fantastic.
Here's a few pictures:




And then we did some charity stuff for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation on Sunday (a walk) and had my MIL and her man over for dinner.
*whew* I get tired just writing it all... and in there... about two dozen stitches on the duck and that is it!

Then last night we were busy too.. but tonight I'm looking forward to hopefully stitching on my Judgement dragons.
I will be stitching a bit less in the next little bit because I have a few freelance design jobs that I got awarded, which is great because it's extra money, but kinda bad cause it cuts into stitching time. But what can you do eh? :)

Coming up: Tomorrow maybe pictures of judgement, there are a few more stitches in the pirate as well as I have done a bit on my lunch hours at the office, so maybe a picture of him too!

Thanks for visiting!

Giveaway Winner!

Well I drew the name last night for my blog giveaway #2.

And I pulled....*drum roll*

Carol!

Congratulations to Carol on winning the Lavender and Lace pattern.
I apologize that I don't have cheesy pictures this time from the draw as my B/F was not home last night and me and the camera just haven't been getting along lately. ;)

I don't have any progress pics either as he was not home. But I have been working on the rubber ducky.
We have a busy weekend ahead of us, with another concert tonight (for the Offspring), hiking tomorrow, a charity walk on sunday and the B/F's Mom and her boyfriend are coming for dinner on Sunday. *whew* so not sure how much stitching I will accomplish we'll just have to see.

Coming up: More progress on WIP.

Congratulations again to Carol! There will be more giveaways in the coming months so keep checking back

Pirates and Dragons

I have some work in progress pictures to share with you all.
First up my Pirate piece. This has still mostly been stitched in the car, at lunch and a little at home while watching playoff hockey. I was so happy to get all the letters done and now just have the skull on top!



And further progress on the Judgement Dragons.
It may not seem like much, but it's almost three nights worth of work, which is alot of time. This one just progresses slowly.


Coming up: The draw for my giveaway should be posted tomorrow. And more WIP pictures for me over the next week or so.

Thanks for visiting and your comments are always appreciated!

Papillon SAL Part 2 Complete (and a new start)

I do hope you all had a great weekend! Our was, as forecasted, cold, snowy and gross. So we did stay inside and watch Pixar movies. We found the Pizza truck that appears in each movie in all the Pixar movies except The Incredibles. So we will have to watch that one again (oh and Ratatouille because we don't have that one). So we figured that 6 for 7 was pretty good!
We also were at a concert last night, for Rise Against... so I am really tired today! But that is okay because at least it's sunny again!

I did get some exciting stitching done.
I completed the second part of the Papillon SAL. I am still behind on this one as part
4 will be released soon. But such is life I suppose. The colours in this photo are completely off as it's stitched on brown fabric. But alas that is how the photos turned out. Here is how part 2 stitched up:

I had to frog out the purple side once which was annoying but I'm quite pleased that it still looks okay even after frogging alot of stitches.

I also got the eye of the ducky in! So it is almost starting to look like something other than yellow blob. Here is a progress picture:


And I had a new start... it's from the Just Cross Stitch preview magazine by Sharon Crescent called Trimming the Tree. Stitched on 32 ct mushroom evenweave. This ornament if for an exchange on my Yahoo ILCS group. We are sending the ornaments all to one person who will then randomly send us one as stitched by someone else. Kinda neat! It has to be in the moderators hands for July 22 (I think) but I'm sure I will be able to make this deadline.
I changed the green colour from the light blue/green to Desert Mesquite from Crescent Colours, the red berries are in Cresent Colours Wild Berries and the other two are just DMC. I still have to figure out how to finish this as well but figure stitching comes first.
Here is a picture of what it will look like:


And here is my progress picture:


Coming up: My giveaway is being extended until Thursday as I just won't have time likely to draw and deal with it before then. So let anyone know that wants to be entered, or if you haven't entered yet just post a comment on the giveaway #2 post and you are entered. It's that easy!
I am hoping to get at least one good night on Judgement in this week and have a new WIP picture posted later this week. And of course continuing on my other WIP.

Thanks for visiting and happy stitching!

A Night of Stitching

So I ventured for the first time to a stitching night that my LNS holds on Thursdays. I usually can't attend this night b/c my B/F has the car. But as he was at a show last night I stole the car and went to the store! It was fun to sit around and meet some new people, talk about stitching, movies and other things.
I stitched on the rubber ducky some before we played a game called Bead Table, which is essentially an elaborate version of bingo! It was very fun. (and the winner wins some beads!).
I also picked up some hand-dyed threads for my christmas ornament for the exchange on my yahoo ILCS group. Will be starting that one maybe on the weekend.

I don't have any progress pics as the b/f didn't get home until after midnight, so I was already in bed, and after my dismal failure with photos the other day I didn't want to try again.
Though I did get some stitching on judgement done the other night which is good and I will have some updates on WIP after the weekend for sure.

We are planning on having a Pixar marathon weekend (we just learned that the pizza truck makes an appearance in all their movies, so we've decided it would be fun to watch them and look for it!). We are doing this mostly because it's cold, rainy and gross here all according to the forecast for today, tomorrow and sunday. (they are even expecting snow! gross! It's June!)

Coming up: More WIP pictures, maybe a start for my christmas ornament exchange, and don't forget the draw for my giveaway, post a comment on the post below this one to enter!

Hope everyone has a great weekend

Giveaway #2!

Well as promised I've got my stuff together to do another giveaway!
Here's the deal... you have to comment on this post and say that you want to be entered in the giveaway. You must leave your email or have it viewable in your profile.
If you post about my giveaway on your blog then you get a second entry! (just let me know via email or comments that you have done so)
I will ship anywhere no problem.

The draw will be posted Tuesday, June 9th. I will take entries in comments until Monday at about 6pm MST as we will draw and take pictures that night.

Alright... administrative side aside let's get to the goods!
The giveaway is for a Lavender and Lace pattern, it's unopened (I got it awhile ago, never opened it and don't see myself stitching it). The pattern is called Angel of Mercy. Here is a picture of the actual one I will be giving away.


If you want a closer look check out this link:
Angel of Mercy

Best of luck to everyone!

Updates and New Blog

I have some stitching updates for you all... and a new blog to announce.

Tracy has started a blog dedicated to Just Nan. Which happens to be one of my favourite designers!
It's located here at: Just Nan Junction. I am very excited to be a part of the blog and hope that anyone who likes Just Nan will join us or read along as we blog about all things Just Nan!

So I went on a hunt the other day for some highlighters that would fit into my stitching carry case easily (so I wanted them to be small). And I hit the jackpot! I got the cutest monster highlighters at a local art store.


In the world of my WIP... I've gotten some good progress on the duck... I know it's hard to tell but it really is a few hundred stitches. I'll have an eye soon and then maybe you'll have a benchmark to tell. (and this photo sucks b/c the B/F was out and I tried to take it myself... shame on me).


More (small) progress on Pirates. This I am mostly doing on my lunch hours so it will be a bit slow... but that is okay because it's small I'll still probably have it done quick. (again crappy photo b/c it was me)


And I am *this* close to being done the Papillion SAL Part 2. One more night at the most and I will have this one done. I am waiting for more of my metallic gold to come into my LNS as well as I'm almost out. But should have just enough to finish this part up. (and can you tell that my B/F took this one late last night once he got home, it's so much better than my two above!)



Coming up: More progress on Judgement and my other WIPS, and my giveaway! I will be posting it likely tomorrow (if not tomorrow then friday)!

A great trip to my LNS

So even though my weekend got kinda screwed up by a BIL needing help moving last minute we did still manage to get a few great things done.
B/F and I bought a patio set for our apartment patio! It's so nice to sit outside and have drinks or stitch! So here's hoping we get good weather again soon!

And I did get a trip to my LNS! It came unexpectedly on Friday afternoon when I decided that working while it was 25 degrees celsius (yes it's pathetic but that is really warm for here!) and I didn't want to work. So I ran away from work early, called a friend and we went to my LNS that is just outside of the city! It was great.
I was bad and bought lots of stuff... including the new Mirabilia, some fabrics for HAED storykeeps and a Pirate pattern!!
Here's pictures of what I got:

This is a lovely hand dyed linen!


I got lucky and had enough fabric for two storykeeps from the cut! So I will start one maybe soon... and the other when I need a new start. (25 ct white evenweave, the patterns are Silvery Moon and Iris Storykeeper that I bought awhile ago from HAED).


I had this pattern (Circle of Friends by Mirabilia) on hold for me and my friend didn't know it. She picked it up off the shelf and said, wow do you need this. It was so funny b/c I told her it was already behind the counter for me, I had called in my request for it as soon as I saw it! (Weeks Dye Works linen, I love their stuff it's so soft to stitch on! You can't tell in the picture but it's got some lovely dark reds in the brown).


This one I had not planned on getting... but had seen before and the B/F had thought it was cute online. When my friend picked it up and expressed how awesome she thought it would be for the "pirate themed" bathroom that my B/F and I are planning I decided I must have it...
Here is a picture what it looks like as there is a bad glare on the one above.


And I just couldn't resist starting it right away! :)
I did this mostly in the car while we were driving from the BIL's house to the storage area (about 1/2hr away) and a little bit on my patio before it started to rain the other night. Here is the progress.

I'm doing the backstitch as I go so it's not so cumbersome later. I'm really really enjoying this one and am so glad I picked it up!

And yes I'm terrible I now have a drawer that will barely close full of projects to stitch after buying this stuff... So I'm going to try and finish at least two or three items before I buy anymore (and will maybe have a few more starts in there too!)

We also had one more exciting thing this weekend... we saw UP!, the pixar movie. I must tell everyone to go and see it immediately! It's sooo cute, sweet, sad, funny and just all around amazing! Though if you're a crier at movies make sure you take some kleenex as there are some amazing moments of sweetness in it that may choke you up a bit.

Coming up: More progress on pirates creed and judgement, also I will have a giveaway later in the week for a Lavender and Lace pattern.

Thanks for stopping by and for all your comments!