Finishing, stitching and crafting

Whew, it was a busy crafting weekend.  I spent most of Friday (it was my day off) pillowizing Forever and Ever.  I used Peg Baker's YouTube video on sewing a pillow with piping and a zipper again and I'm really pleased with the results.

 Pardon the ironing board cover - it's been crafted on a lot and I really should get a new one.  The border and backing fabric is the same and is really a very deep, rich red.  This picture was taken right after I put the pillow form in so it's a bit wonky.  I've been pushing and pulling to get it to fill the corners so it looks a bit better today.

Saturday I had to do the usual grocery run and finish up the laundry.  For some reason I had the urge to start another project - I really do have to try to tamp that down as I do need to finish some of my WIPs.  So I pulled out Poinsettia Fairy by Reuben McHugh and charted by Charting Creations.  Not much of a start but it was fun.  Here's what it will look like done:

  I really do like his style and use of colors.  And here's where it is after 195 stitches (of 148,903 that's something I'm not sure I like about Pattern Keeper.  It's nice to see how much I did during my stitching session, but not sure I like seeing I'm .03% through).

This is 28-count white Monaco 1 over 1.  I'm trying the stitching on the diagonal that seems to be the rage right now.  It's okay.  I'm not sure I"m any faster stitching this way, but it's kind of fun doing something new and please excuse that cat hair in the middle of the picture - it looks like Salem or Spot's.

Speaking of new:

Grady is just so stinkin' cute.  He (and Mom and Dad) are doing well.  I leave Friday for Michigan and will be meeting him Saturday morning.

Speaking of cute:

You just have to have your Starbucks (or Starbucks cup) when you go grocery shopping.  Not sure if I'll see Jack Friday but sure will at Sunday dinner. 

We found out this week that Jack's going to have a sister come the end of June!  Everyone is so excited and can't wait to meet her.  It's fun to go baby shopping right now as you can buy boy and girl clothes and not moan that all the cute stuff is for the other. :-)

So back to stitching...

I worked on Magic Dreams Saturday evening and again on Sunday.  I didn't do my usual rotation as I really do want to get it finished before Grady is 16 and I'd spent more time than planned on errands and Poinsettia Fairy.  I'm happy to report that the whale is almost done:

I am still contemplating the best way to deal with all the individual white and light blue stitches on the background.  All that's left on the whale is that little bit of the belly and another fin.  After that the moon, background stars and LOTS of backstitching.  I think I'm going to put Grady's name and birth information on the lower right side of the piece just off the flipper.

And I had another finish - not stitching but crochet.  I couldn't find anywhere to get a good picture, but the first Kaleidoscope Shawl is done.  I'll try to get a picture and will post it later.  This one is a Christmas gift for one of the nieces.  I have yarn to do two more - one for the other niece and one for my MIL.

As I mentioned, I'm heading to Michigan for the weekend, and I'm not planning on taking any stitching with me.  I will be taking some yarn as I have to decide on and hopefully start a baby blanket. 

A wonderful February day

Why is it a wonderful day, you ask?  Our family welcomed Grady Patrick to the world today! 

He was born a bit before 1:00 PM.  DNiece and he are doing well - nobody has said how dad is doing :-).  I am head-over-heels in love and can't wait to meet him (I'm planning to head to Michigan to see them in a couple of weeks).  Grady is baby #4 in our family in the last year (well a bit more) and we have one more coming in June.Speaking of the babies.  Here are Vance and Calder:

This was their 5 month picture.  They're not dressed as cowboys - they're both teething and very drooly.

And Jack:

He is definitely growing out of his baby looks and into a toddler.  He had tubes put in his ears a couple weeks ago and from reports is very much enjoying the sound of his voice. :-)

So, stitching.  I did a lot of stitching this weekend, on a lot of different projects.  I knocked four goals off my February acrostic, so feeling very good.

LOTS OF PICTURES FOLLOW:

The first piece I pulled out was Santa and the Mouse (this was a freebie on the HaED website a few years back).  I needed something for "0" and I worked on this 0 times last year.  Last time I had it out, I was here:

I added about 120 new stitches and got it to here:

I used the Pattern Keeper app and I really liked it.  I had to load my progress in but am really pleased with how easy it was to use and I was able to keep my place with no problem (well, once I figured out where I was).

Next I went onto Common Ground by Just Nan. It went from here:

to here:

I really enjoyed working on this one but was only able to get this far in the time I'd allotted.

I pulled Garden Fair out because I needed something for "2" and this only has 2 colors in it.

I'm stitching this with Anchor black as I have heard for years how superior it is to DMC black.  This is one-over-one on 40-count linen and I can't say I'm seeing much of a difference between the two.  The Anchor has thick and thin areas just like the DMC and because of that there are places where the fabric is showing through.  I'll finish this piece up with the Anchor since I spent the money but I don't think I'd make an extra effort to get it in the future.

I also pulled out Luna by Nora Corbett and got her from here:

to here:

I probably should have started her a little bit further to the right so that wing tip was centered in the moon - ah well...

I spent some time crocheting and almost have the shawl finished but I forgot to take a picture.

I spun the wheel on my decision roulette for my normal rotation pieces and J by Nora Corbett came up first.  I'm not putting a before as all I did was that bit of beading at the top of the J.  I forgot how much time beading can take and this is bead heavy. Of course it is, it's a Mira/Nora design.

Temperature Tree came up next:

The fabric color is much more true in the bottom photo.  I finished the January leaves and added the April branch and got a pretty good start on the May/June/July top of the tree.

That left Time for Seasons from By the Bay Needlearts.  It went from here:

to here:

That house reminded me why I don't care for 18 or 36-count fabric - I can't get the number of threads right.  One is too thin for most colors and two is just that bit too much. Doubling up on some and not others would look strange on this piece, so using a thinner needle so I can get the threads between the ones already there rather than splitting them.

Even with all that stitching, I got a bunch of time in on Magic Dreams. Boy by Cute Patterns by Maria and with the news of today, I need to spend all my time on it from now on.  It went from here:

to here:

Of course, just as I finished it off, I figured out that Grady was not going to be blond and that I should have done a conversion to brown.  Ah well again

Friday is my day off, so plan to finish-finish the Forever and Ever pillow and then stitch the weekend away - again.