Mega SAL post

The last two weeks have been eventful to say the least.  The short story is that I had a health scare a couple of weeks ago and while it wasn't the feared heart attack after more tests than I care to count, my heart and associated systems were declared healthy  I will be going in for surgery tomorrow to fix the cause.  After doing a little research, I am not sure why I didn't figure it all out sooner.  I am not looking forward to the surgery but am looking forward to the relief from all the symptoms that I put down to aging.  Because of the surgery, I probably won't feel up to posting for several month-end SALs so I am going to cram them all into this one.

Before I get into my SAL postings, Pull the Other Thread is hosting a Mega Mini Month Madness SAL during October.  The link should take you to the sign-up page if you're interested.  All you have to do is stitch on a mini (ornament size or smaller) piece and post once each week in October you don't have to do five different pieces just post your progress each week.  There will be a drawing for a gift card at the end for everyone that participates and follows the rules,  While I am recuperating (6 to 8 weeks of no commuting - I will be teleworking as I can) I will actually have time to stitch so I may sign up for this one.

The first SAL is TUSAL.  TUSAL (Totally Useless Stitch Along) is hosted by It's Daffycat.  If the links don't work, the buttons along the sides should take you to the information pages for all the SALs mentioned.  TUSAL asks that you collect all those little snippits of thread in a pretty jar and take a picture on the new moon each month.  I had more additions to my collection than I expected given my relative lack of stitching recently.  My jar is shown in front of Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden.

The next SAL post due is the Smalls SAL.  Heather at Stitching Lotus is hosting this SAL.  Another easy one - stitch on a small and post the last Wednesday of each month.  I did finish a small this month but it was leftover from last month's non-finish month and I didn't start another one.

Little House Needleworks' Red House In Winter stitched on 30-count Northern Cross linen with DMC and Crescent Colours

Stitch from Stash is the next one in line.  Mel at Epic Stitching hosts.  This group encourages you to keep within a budget and enjoy what you already have stashed.  We have a very generous $25 a month budget and your unspent balance rolls over, so if you have a larger purchase in mind in a fairly short period of time you'd have the money saved up.

For September I had:

                 Carry over:  $200
    September Budget:  $  25
September Purchases:  $   0
       Balance Forward:  $225

I had no new starts from stash, but I did work on Red House in Winter, Holly and Hearts Sampler, Santa's Magic, Spring in the Air, and Secret Victorian Garden.  I do expect to have a new start for October's report, but I am not sure what.

Last, but not least is the Just Nan SAL.  This one seems to have fallen apart but I will continue to post as I am enjoying pulling out some of the Just Nan's that I have had kitted and stashed for years.  I am currently working on Spring in the Air.  While I didn't get a lot done this month, I did get two of the over-1 pansies completed, so I am happy with my progress.

Stitched on 28-count Antique Ivory with DMC 

And I did have progress on a couple of other projects:

Holly and Hearts Sampler by Lizzie*Kate

Stitched on an unknown Silkweavers fabric with called for fibers

and Secret Victorian Garden by Chatelaine

Stitched on 32-count Summer Sky Jobelan with called for fibers

WHEW!!!  I think that covers everything.  Lots of little things to do around the house to get things to a point where The Hubs won't feel overwhelmed while he's the one trying to keep it all together.

YOTA and WIPocalypse

The stitching drought finally ended last weekend!  Apparently four episodes of Endeavour and the first Hobbit movie was just what I needed to settle in and stitch.  I had all intentions of settling in with the Desolation of Smaug and stitching all day yesterday but instead of looking at this:

I looked at this:

Yes, another "finally", we got the boat out and did some fishing.  Not a lot of luck fishing but it was a nice day to be on the water.

Yesterday was the first Saturday of the month and Tuesday is the full moon which means, YOTA and WIPocalypse respectively.  YOTA is hosted at Pull the Other Thread and WIPocalypse is hosted by Melissa at Measi's Musings.  They are both set up to help keep you on track to finish up some of those WIPs that you have hanging around.  As I had that stitching block going on I only stitched on one WIP on my list so another combined post.  Here's where Mirabilia's Santa's Magic was when it started its round in the rotation:

And here's where it was last night:

For whatever reason Blogger decided the photo should be sideways and despite all my tries, including following all the directions I could find on rotating photos in Blogger, it stubbornly stayed like this.  I am very happy with the progress I made and even more thrilled that things are lining up and matching where they are supposed to.

 

Before I forget, Melissa has questions to go with each month of WIPocalypse.  This month's question is, "Who is your favorite person to stitch for, or do you keep your stitching for yourself?"  I don't know that I have a favorite person to stitch for.  I have stitched a lot of gifts over the years, but I don't think any one person has received more than anyone else.  Items that will be given away tend to be picked out specifically for that individual and usually for a specific event, such as weddings, babies or anniversaries, so eventually everyone gets something.   



A little stitching on a small and Just Nan.

The summer stitching slump continues.  The college football season started yesterday so perhaps my brain will think, despite temperatures predicted to be in the upper 80s/lower 90s for the week, that summer is over and it is time to think about stitching again.  I am behind on several check-ins which isn't much of a surprise for those of you that have been reading my blog lately - thank you if you still are and welcome if you are new - I do hope that I can get back into a stitching and blogging mode again soon.
 
  As I did not finish a small, I am not officially posting for the SAL, but if you are interested in participating, Heather at Stitching Lotus is hosting and clicking on the badge there at the beginning of this paragraph should take you to the information page. 

  Sharon at It's Daffycat hosts TUSAL.  Collect all those bits and pieces of thread that you would normally throw away in a pretty container and post a photo of it each month.  As the name suggests, it isn't really very useful but it is pretty.

I've combined my Smalls and TUSAL photo this month.  The house needs a front door and some landscaping but I should be able to finish it in September. 

One SAL that I am not late on is the .  Zeb at Keep Calm and Cross Stitch is hosting this SAL. As its name implies, pick a Just Nan pattern, stitch and post.  Spring in the Air is my current Just Nan project.  The pansies are stitched over-1 and are worth the extra time they are taking.

Santa's Magic by Mirabilia is on the frame for this week.  This has been a fun stitch so I am hoping that it will be just what I need to get stitching again.  Here's where he is right now:

August Stitch From Stash

With all the travel the last few months, I was in Alabama last week, summer has passed me by with a whoosh!  I really do feel like I completely missed out on it this year.  Normally that wouldn't bother me too much as summer is my least favorite season, but this year, the weather was very nice and I would have liked to take more advantage of it.

My stitching mojo has also passed me by with a whoosh this summer.  Fortunately, the lack of stitching mojo has had a positive impact on my stashing mojo making the    challenge easy.  Stitch from Stash is hosted by Mel at Epic Stitching and has a duel purpose - love your stash and save your cash!!  Each month you get a $25 budget and sometimes, like this month, you can have a bit more.  If you don't spend your regular budget amount, you can roll it over to next month so you could have a rather substantial amount for a splurge by the end of the year.  If you can't wait that long, you do get a by month when you could go stash wild.  For August, my spending report is:

               Carry over:  $175

        August Budget:  $  25

   August Purchases:  $   0

     Balance Forward:  $200

 

I had two starts from stash this month:  Just Nan's Spring in the Air:



 

and Little House Needleworks' Red House in Winter

I did stitch a little on a WIP this month, but only a little.

 

This is Secret Victorian Garden by Chatelaine.  My progress was those blue stitches around the backstitched motif with the heart.  Not much progress, but each stitch in is one stitch closer to done.

 

August WIPocalypse

I had the perfect opportunity for lots of stitching this week.  We were encouraged to telework on Tuesday and Wednesday this week due a summit in DC and all the associated extra traffic and closed roads and with Thursday my usual telework day I had an almost normal life - work, home at a decent hour, fix dinner, clean up and still plenty of time to stitch - instead my summer stitching slump made its appearance.  I had no desire to stitch.  Didn't look at it, didn't think about it, didn't read any blogs, and didn't really miss it.  I did read and comment on some blogs this weekend and managed to switch pieces on the frame so maybe it will be a short slump this year.  I do have some pre-slump stitching to show and will do that as part of my August  post.  WIPocalypse is hosted by Melissa at Measi's Musings and is a WIP reduction SAL.  You make a list of projects you would like to complete, stitch and do a post on the full moon each month.  Easy?  Yes it is (unless, of course, you're in a stitching slump and there isn't too much to post about.  Thankfully, this year Melissa posted prompts for each month and this month's is "Tell us about your oldest newest WIP". 

Newest is easy!   It's Just Nan's Spring in the Air.  I posted a photo of my progress in my last post but I did some stitching on it before the slump hit.  Here's where I left off Saturday evening a week:

This is done on a 28-count Antique Ivory evenweave with DMC fibers.  The pansies are over-1 so a little slow to stitch but the results are well worth the time.

Oldest is a little harder.  It's either Crossed Wing Collection's Flower Power or Cross My Heart's Floral Welcome.  I started Flower Power on New Year's Day 1996 or 1997 as a SAL on RCTN and I think I started Floral Welcome in 1996 to go over the door of our new house in New Hampshire.  There was a major family medical issue around this time and stitching fell by the wayside while dealing with it, so there isn't a ton of progress on either of these despite them being so old.

Here's my progress on Floral Welcome:

It's stitched on 18-count White Aida with DMC and Kreinik.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it as the New Hampshire house was sold seven years ago and I'm not sure it really fits the house here in Virginia.  I suppose if it takes me as long to stitch the C, O, M, and E as it has to do the W, E and L, this house could be sold and it will fit perfectly in the next!!

Here's where I stopped with Flower Power:

 

I think this is a 28-count evenweave but other than "blue" I don't know the color.  It's stitched with DMC.  The insects are all over-1 and I believe I did the hummingbird beaks over-1 also.  The hummingbird heads and throats use Krienik blending filament to give them a bit of shimmer.  I recall that I didn't do any of the backstitching as everything seemed to stand out quite well without it, but will revisit that decision once it's back in the rotation.  

 

Secret Victorian Garden made it onto the frame for its time in the rotation, but I am not sure how much stitching will actually happen.

Economizing My Posts

A week ago Wednesday, I got on a train headed for Union Station in Washington DC and then on to Toledo, Ohio.  While I have traveled by train in the past, numerous times in Italy and once on the Acela from Boston to Washington, DC the Acela is Amtrak's high-speed train and is a very nice way to get along the east coast and every day for work, the trains involved were very different than the ones I was on for this trip so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I was very pleasantly surprised.  If you haven't considered Amtrak for travel, you definitely should.  Yes, it does take longer than flying and the schedules can be a bit challenging, but it's about 1/3 of the cost and you can get up and walk around anytime you chose, stretch out to nap (more than enough room for the seats to recline without landing in the lap of the person in back of you), visit the dining or cafe cars for food and drinks or sit in the observation car and just watch it all roll by.  I did a lot of sleeping (two overnight trains), looking out the window and reading.  My sister picked me up in Toledo rather than me taking the bus to the Detroit area and I spent a wonderful week with my family.  First at my sister's, (thanks JANE!!) and then at my parent's (thank you Mom and Dad!).  Went to a family reunion, talked, laughed and ate way too much, there are some awesome cooks in my family, and generally just lazed around and relaxed the rest of the time.  While I was gone, several of my SALs had posting dates so you are going to get four updates for the price of one!!! starting with .

TUSAL is hosted at It's Daffycat.  All that is involved is that you save all those bits of thread that you used to throw away and on the new moon, post a photo.  Simple as can be.  This month, my TUSAL photo is also my  photo.  Zeb at Keep Calm and Cross Stitch is hosting this SAL.  All you have to do is stitch a piece or pieces designed by Just Nan. An easy one for me as I have a ton of her designs in my stash.  So in an economizing post, I'm economizing on photos too!!

I know what you're thinking - the jar is full, the fabric is blank.  Yep, getting the fabric (28-count Antique Ivory) straightened, ironed and marked is all I got done on my Just Nan piece this month.  I do hope to get some stitches in Spring in the Air tomorrow as its rotation is up and Secret Victorian Garden will be going on the frame Sunday morning.

Next up is .  Heather at Stitching Lotus is hosting this SAL.  Pick a small, stitch it and post on the last Wednesday of the month.  How easy is that?  I really enjoy participating in this one as I tend to stitch large projects and if it wasn't for these smalls, I would have very few finishes in a year.  I was able to finish this one just under the wire - I have a feeling my summer stitching slump is trying to make an appearance - while at my parents.

Winter Sheep by Little House Needleworks  - stitched on 30-count Weeks Dye Works Straw Linen with DMC and Just Another Button Company buttons

The directions call for the holly sprig to be stitched onto the hanging cord, but I liked it on the piece and being the stitching rebel that I am okay I knew it would take me a while to actually finish this into an ornament and that I would probably lose the button so it was safer to attach it...

And last but not least, a not late, YOTA post.  YOTA is hosted at Pull the Other Thread and is designed to provide incentive to work through those WIPs that you may have sitting around.  I think I have posted updates of all the WIPs on my YOTA list so here is a photo of my progress on Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts sampler.  Although it's not on my YOTA list, it is a WIP that I would like to get done this year.

Holly and Hearts by Lizzie*Kate - stitched on an unknown piece of hand-dyed linen with Weeks Dye Works fibers.

It is supposed to be a wet weekend here in central Virginia, so once the laundry is done, I should have lots of time to stitch!!  I don't even have to worry too much about cooking - the air conditioner's compressor went out last week and we're waiting for the part so trying to keep heat production to a minimum calls for slow-cooker and grilled meals - neither of which take lots of preparation time!!

July Stitch from Stash

I wasn't planning on posting again so soon, but as I am going to be busy for the next week with travel, a family reunion and catching up with my parents and sister, it seemed a good idea to do this one now.

 is hosted by Mel at Epic Stitching and is a stash reduction challenge with a very nice $25 (or your currency equivalent) budget each month.  Your unused budget amount rolls over each month, so you could, in a relatively short period of time, have a very nice bit of money for a splurge.  Mel also built a free month into the challenge so in the event you did spend your roll over money and your budget and a bit more, you call your "freebie" month and just sit back and enjoy your new stash.   With that, here is my July report:

Carry over:            $150
July Budget:              25
July Purchases:           0
Balance Forward:  $175

Updates on my rotation pieces can be seen in my WIPocalypse and IHSW posts and looking back, I haven't started anything new since my last SFS post. 

It was a hermit and stitch weekend!

The third weekend of the month means....   Yes, it was time to hermit and stitch.  I had a whirlwind trip to South Dakota last week for work, so I really didn't have any plans for the weekend other than to catch up on sleep (the two hour time change really got to me this trip) so stitching fit right in with the plans.

While not an IHSW piece, Elegant Doily had one more day on the frame after my last post, and here's where it ended up last Saturday:

Another good stitching round should have the eyelets done!!  I am going to have to soak this once it's completed to try to get rid of the discoloration on the blanket stitches.  Not sure what caused it but I am sure I can figure a way to get it out.  As I'm not really in love with this piece, I'm not fussing over the possibility of extreme measures to clean it. 

Winter Sheep by Little House Needleworks is my first IHSW piece.  This is part of my Smalls SAL but I am going to have to do some fast stitching if I am going to finish it this month.  Here's where I left it yesterday:

It used to be that I couldn't stitch larger pieces in hand but smalls were fine, now nothing seems to work in hand hence the hoop.

Santa's Magic had its turn in the rotation and went from here:

To here:

I really do need to get the beard finished.  Unfortunately, all those blank spaces are done in Wisper and while the result is perfect, the journey is awful.

After Santa, Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts Mystery Sampler went on the frame. It went from here:

To here:

On my monitor there are all sorts of wavy lines on the photo, if you click on it, they go away

I am on vacation for the next two weeks YEAAA!!!!!  but probably won't get too much stitching in.  I get on a train heading to Michigan Wednesday morning and while I am taking a couple of smalls with me just in case the stitching urge hits while I'm on the train or at my sister's, I do tend to read more than stitch while I'm traveling.

July WIPocalypse

Tonight's full moon is a "super moon", the first of three.  It didn't appear to be too different from previous moons last night, but yesterday morning? OH MY!!! I didn't get a photo as I was driving (slamming on the brakes on I-95 for no apparent reason is frowned upon - although it does seem to happen a lot) but it was an amazing orangey/red.  Even though I know the scientific reason for the color it still caused a moment of "eeekkkk" in the more superstitious corner of my brain.  Anyway, the full mean means it's check-in time for .  Measi at Measi's Musings hosts this SAL. Another low stress SAL (I do favor those don't I?).  Make a list of WIPs that you would like to finish and/or see progress towards a finish and stitch.  Post your progress once a month.  See easy.  To make it a bit more interesting, this year's SAL has questions for each posting.  This month's is "Do you start your holiday stitching this early?  If so what do you hope to accomplish this year?"  I tend to have holiday stitching, mostly Christmas, going all the time.  I try to stitch an ornament a month (I have yet to finish-finish any) and have a Santa/Christmas slot in my rotation for the larger pieces.  You can see the ornament finishes in the "2014 Smalls SAL" tab up top.  My only real plan for holiday stitching is to make progress on Santa's Magic and keep up with the ornament stitching.  If I actually finish-finish a few ornaments that would be a huge extra for me.

As he's already been mentioned, here's my progress on Santa's Magic:

He was here at my last WIPocalypse report:

And as of today, he's here:

I showed the progress pics of Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden last week with my YOTA update, which leaves Elegant Doily by Kayann's Kreations as the last piece on the WIPocalypse list.  It is on the frame this week and, as usual, I have been stitching eyelets.  But, there is an end in sight!!  Here's where it is right now:

The diamond shapes and the outside "borders" are all that's left!!!

Here's a close up of that flower motif in the middle:

This is on the frame the rest of today.  Santa's Magic will take it's place there tomorrow.

First Saturday in July

Okay, it's the first Sunday, but the weather was so beautiful that I was out more than in yesterday - this time of year you have to take advantage of the low heat and humidity days when they come around - and missed posting.  So the first Saturday of the month means it's YOTA time.  The YOTA SAL is hosted at Pull the Other Thread and focuses on stitching on those WIPs that may have been languishing for, in my case, months years decades I do have several that are well over the decade mark but they haven't yet hit their second... yet.
My focus the last week has been Chatelaine's Secret Victorian Garden.  I found two separate areas that had counting mistakes one thread off on each fortunately, they were sort of free floating individual motifs so they didn't impact any other bits so I only had to frog and re-stitch those two motifs.  Here is where it was:

And here is where I left it:

Here's a close up of one corner:

There will be beads in the Jessica flowers so the centers will eventually be, well, centered.  I started part 12 on the two sides with the thought that I was almost finished, I conveniently forgot that the bit rolled on the rods is *really* empty.

 

June Just Nan SAL

Zeb at Keep Calm and Cross Stitch is hosting .  Just Nan was on my "must buy" list for years so I have quite a collection of patterns - most of them kitted up and ready to start - languishing in my stash.  When I read about the SAL, I jumped on it.  I looked at it as a chance to reduce my stash a bit and see lots of beautiful stitching.  It has not disappointed.  I am not burning through my Just Nan stash but I have finished two projects so far this year and am so pleased, I have decided to keep a Just Nan slot in my rotation.

Strawberry Summer was finished last night sorry for the wonky photo:

Stitched on 28-count Graziano Savannah Rose Milan linen with DMC floss and perle cotton, Kreinik and beads from the embellishment pack

 I decided to leave off the date as it really didn't fit the design and I didn't feel like recharting from 2001 to 2014 (ummmm yeah, it's been in my stash for that long).

After sorting through all my patterns, Spring in the Air was picked to fill the Just Nan slot in the rotation (I had a really good time "shopping" in my stash).

Small, TUSAL and Lizzie*Kate

A couple of things before we get onto the title things.

First - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Trevor!!!!  Today is DSon's 31st birthday!  Not sure how that happened as I don't feel much older than that myself.

AS an explanation - he did a Foam Run (obstacles, mud and foam) I am soooo glad I no longer have to do his laundry!!!! a couple of weeks ago.  The rest of the members of his team were women so he decided a tiara was a perfect way to be "one of the girls" or as much of a girl as a 6' 3" guy can be...

Second - Welcome to my new followers and thank you all for your comments.  I am not getting email notifications of every one's comments and I don't come back to read comments here on Blogger, so if you don't hear back from me when you make a comment, it's not that I'm not paying attention to you, I never got your comment to respond to.  I do appreciate each of you taking the time to read and comment on my blog.

Onto the stitchy stuff - Wednesday was the check-in for the .  Heather is hosting this SAL.  Another really simple one, stitch a small and post it once a month.  A small is whatever you define a small as.  I've been catching up on all the ornaments in my stash.  This month was no exception.

This is Joy to the World by Little House Needleworks.  Stitched on 30-count WDW Straw linen with DMC.  The button is from JABCo.  I am still working on her eyes.  The pattern calls for french knots but they looked really wonky so I took them out and have not decided what to use.

Yesterday was the new moon, so it's time for .  Sharon at It's Daffycat hosts this SAL. Rather than a "stitch along" it's more a "save along".  No stress on this one, find a jar (mine is an old Yankee Candle jar), and save all those little bits of thread that you clip off or would have normally thrown away and same them.

Here is my June entry:

Lots of pretty threads in the jar so far this year.  The piece my jar is in front of is Strawberry Summer by Just Nan.  One more band and the beading of a couple others and this will be done.

And finally, Lizzie*Kate's Holly and Hearts was on the frame last week and I had a fair bit of progress.  It went from here:

To here:

Those of you that have stitched this piece will note that there is a HUGE mistake in this one.  The snowflake band is supposed to be stitched in a pinkish red.  This one is mounted on the frame upside down as that fits my stitching style better, well, I had the chart upside down and the key right-side up, as the green is \ and the red is /, I mixed them up.  The band was totally done before I looked at the picture of the finished piece and realized what had happened and decided I was not going to rip it all out.  The similar band in part one will also be different than charted as it will be pinkish red instead of green, so it will all work out and I will say that I personalized it...

Strawberry Summer is on the frame through tonight and I am going to push for a finish.  Secret Victorian Garden goes on the frame tomorrow. Not sure how much I will get done tomorrow as I have to finish mowing the yard - it got too hot, too fast for me to finish it today.