Last day of vacation

*sigh* Today is my last day of vacation.  It was a very busy and good two plus weeks.  Weekend before last, (the 22nd), I flew to Michigan for the weekend to visit family, and to help with and attend my Niece's baby shower.  It was a very good time.  The new baby is very well provisioned and is set for diapers for quite a while.  DNiece has been diagnosed with gestational diabetes so the poor girl woman, that can't stand the sight of blood, now has to stick herself four times a day.  She's doing a great job of it and is feeling good.

I came home Monday and started straight in on Christmas preparations.  I finished the Christmas cards (just need to address and mail), all the wrapping, and all the cookies.  I needed to get all the wrapping and baking done as I was going back to Michigan on the 29th and wanted to take as much with me as I could.  I have a couple gifts to finish up for the folks here in Virginia, but I have a bit of time for them.  I also need to do the decorating of the house.  So rather than getting up bright and early to hit the stores, I got up not as bright and early as planned and hit the road.  Minimal traffic and good weather - neither of which is guaranteed this time of year - made for a nice drive.

The trip up last weekend for was Jack's first birthday.  It may be the fastest a year has ever passed.  He was quite lavishly gifted for the celebration and had cake for the first time.  He really wasn't sure of the taste as he's not used to sugary sweets

You could almost see when the sugar hit his system and he really got into it:

The cake Jack has is called a "smoosh" cake and is a small cake separate from the one for the rest of us.  It's designed specifically for the purpose of smooshing.  We also found out that Jack is being promoted to Big Brother come the end of June!  Yep, another baby!  We're all excited to welcome the new family member.  Of course, this news completely changes my stitching plans for next year - it's going to be all baby, all the time. :-)

Speaking of stitching, I took a piece with me this weekend and got a bit done.

This is Snowman and Pals from Dimensions.  I finished the back stitching on the large piece on the left and the bit of stitching on the right.  The piece on the right is as wide as you see and there is another piece the same size - one for the right side of the large piece and one for the left.  I can't tell you how long I've been working on this, but I'd really like to get it done.

Somewhere over the last two weeks, I finished DSon's throw.  I bought the green yarn three or four years ago and was knitting a throw for him, but didn't care for it.  Once I taught myself to crochet I decided to crochet a throw for him.  I had four skeins of the yarn, but to make it long enough I needed six.  Unfortunately, the yarn I picked, Bernat Blanket in Pine Bough, was a seasonal color and it hasn't been released again, so I started searching and found Bernat Blanket in Tweeds (another seasonal color) which I liked so two skeins later there is a center stripe.

I used all the Tweeds and had this much green left

The Hubs really liked the Tweeds yarn so I bought a bunch of it and have started a throw for him:

It's a ripple pattern (I need the markers to let me know where the top and bottom of the ripples are) and I like how it looks in this yarn.  I don't know when I'll finish it but it's a piece that can be picked up and worked on for a little while and then put down.

I worked on Forever and Ever for a little bit and got it to here:

I hope to finish the center this afternoon/evening.

And the piece that I've spent the most time on is J.

I had such a fuss with this one.  I originally stitched those five designs in the letter the same, so ripped four of them out and restitched.  My brain could not wrap itself around the design and I had to rip and restitch almost all of them at least twice.  Needless to say, I'm glad they're done.  All that's left on the letter is the beads and then the fairy/pixie.  This, despite my inability to count, is stitching up fairly quickly so will continue with "O" and "Y"with the hope of finishing by the end of this year.

Back to work tomorrow.  I have a meeting all day tomorrow and Thursday, so by the time I get to my emails on Friday, there will be almost three weeks backed up.  Fortunately, a lot of folks are out right now so while there will be a lot to go through, it wouldn't be as many as say in July.  I also heard from HR that security has given me the okay for release to my new job.  I have a tentative report date of December 22nd.  I could have tried for the 8th, but since I haven't given an official "I'm going" to my boss, picking the 8th seemed a good way to burn bridges that I really want to keep in tact, so the 22nd it is.  It will be hard to go as I've been doing the work I"m doing now, in one form or another, since 1989, but I'm looking forward to the new work and the challenge.

So back to reality and my old stitching/crafting schedule - it certainly was fun while it lasted.

I think I made two

SAL check-ins that is.  A warning up front, this is going to be long and very picture heavy.  When the bug returns, it returns full force!  And you don't need to adjust your calendars, it is Wednesday.  I'm on vacation (When I turned off my computer on Thursday, I wouldn't need to turn it back on for 19 days (excepting, of course, if we don't get a continuing resolution signed and we have to go through all the furlough preparations again!!!)).  Lots of crafting and stitching, two trips and Thanksgiving are all happening in the next two weeks.  I have a list of things I want to accomplish each day and so far, I'm on track.

Before I get to that

Yes, that is snow, falling from the sky, in my backyard in central Virginia, in November!!!  I know, it's not anything near what others received, but it was a jolt to our system.

A couple days later I looked out and saw:

Sorry for poor quality, picture is shot through a window and window screen

That's a doe with two fawns and if you look closely, the fawns are still spotted!  They all looked very healthy but it is awfully late in the year for fawns this small.  We still have green in our yard and usually do most of the winter, but I don't think it's terribly high quality (I'm tempted to go to the supply store and get some food to put out for them but it's hunting season and don't want to be charged with baiting).  We've also got a few either-sex hunting days coming up.  If they stay on our land and the neighbors' they're safe (and have almost 40 acres among the three of us) to roam, but if they roam further (which they may have to do given the lack of food) they won't be.

On a happier note, first on the list was to FFO (fully or finally finished object) the Mom and Dad pillows for DNiece and DNephew: 

The pillows finished up about 7-1/2" square-ish.  There are a few mistakes, but I'm happy with them (and I got them off the to-do list).

and Jack's stocking:

The photo is dark but by the time I put the last stitch in, it was close to midnight (I am very much a night-owl when I'm not working).  The piping and backing fabric are a dark mottled blue (close to DMC 939).

Once I FFOd the stitching, I started paper crafting.  I have a thing for exploding boxes and made three.

One for DNiece Jenn who is getting married on December 5th:

One for DNiece Libby's baby shower (this coming weekend!!!! and trip one):

Here's the outside:

And the inside:

I had a bit of trouble with this one as I had a completely different idea for the center panel.  When I tried it, it looked "blah", so I was stuck - you know when your initial idea doesn't work and your brain refuses to think of anything but the original idea?  Yep, that happened to me.  Finally came up with this, but still not thrilled.  Last night, just as I was falling asleep, I thought "rocking horse", but I don't think I can take the middle apart without tearing the whole thing up, so will leave the cradle and save the rocking horse idea for another card.

And one for Jack's birthday (hard to believe he'll be one in two weeks).   Anyway, the invitation to Jack's birthday party (that's my second trip) was farm themed, so I made a barn and toddler (YES!! he's walking!  The family text got a video of him last week.  He started towards Mom but saw Dad and headed straight to him and gave him a big hug when he got there (so stinking cute)) appropriate animals:

Please excuse the mess in the background - I hadn't cleaned up and I am, despite my best efforts, a very messy crafter.  Other than the one panel for the door, the outside of the card is plain red paper embossed with a wood grain.  The lid is embossed with a quilted heart pattern that I thought looked like shingles on black and has a weather vane with his monogram in the middle and the little border around the middle of the inside is "carrots" and "tomatoes".  I love, love, love how this one turned out.

So stitching and SALs...

I definitely, unofficially, participated in  this weekend.  I totally lost track of time so didn't register, but I stitched.  If you're not familiar with IHSW, it's a chance for you to say "not this weekend dear(s), I'm stitching" and just enjoy your stitching time.  No pressure or stress, no stitches to count, no hours to log, just stitch what you can - when you can.

I worked on Forever and Ever by Cottage Garden Samplings first.  I almost had the second flower's outline done but it didn't line up.  I was one off.  I could have fudged it, but it would have bugged me so found the error:

rrriiiggghhhttt there I needed to be over one to the right so ripped it all back.  Got that done and restitched the outline and started filling the flower in.  I got to here:

Stitched on 40-count Tin Roof from Week's Dye Works with DMC conversion. 1 thread over 2

Rather then continue with this one as I should, I went on a starting spree.  Oh yes, I started five new projects in two days (I knew inventorying my stash would be dangerous - not sure how many will be started by the time I'm done with that task).  

 First, I started Luna from Nora Corbett's Bewitching Pixies series.

The fabric is a 28-count EErie Twilight from Sunny Dyes Fabrics and I love it.  It's a painted fabric so the back doesn't have the moon and trees but it does have the blue/grey/black coloring.  She has a bunch of very unique fabrics and the shipping was quick.  I'm using all the called for DMCs, Kreiniks and beads.

Then I started Temperature Tree from Stitchin' Mommy.

I plan to get the tree done so I can start stitching the leaves on January 1st.  This is being stitched on an 18-count Fiddlers Light (it was one of the many tubes of fabric I had in the dresser) with her called for "extreme temperature" colors.

Next up was part 1 of Time for Seasons from By the Bay Needlearts.

I am doing one of the alternate corners that Donna provided.  I'm stitching this on 18-count Rustico/Natural Aida with the called for DMC.  I'm sure I won't keep up with the releases, but it's nice to have the start.

And another SAL that I won't keep up with - Jardin Prive's 2019 Noel Stitch Along:

I'm stitching with White Etoile on a 22-count something (I bought it at an estate sale and the color was worn off the label).  It's not as bright a red as shown here - somewhere between Christmas red and burgundy.  The sparkle in the Etoile, as many have said, really doesn't show on camera and the contrast between the fabric and thread is driving the focus crazy anyway.  This is part 3 of 5 (she is uploaded a part each Saturday).  I started with part 3 as it's the top left corner of the design.

Next was:

Gingerbread Lighthouse by Shannon Christine Designs.  I'm stitching this on a 14-count opalescent Blizzard Blue Aida with the called for threads and beads.  I started this on in the bottom right corner.  Here's a really bad picture of the pattern cover - 

Despite this picture, it is a high quality download

Last, but definitely not least and one I'm really excited about is J from Letters from Nora by Nora Corbett.

This is one evening's stitching.  I'm using 32-count Summer Sky Jobelan (it's much lighter than showing in the picture) in a DMC/Kreinik/Mill Hill/Just Another Button Company Christmas conversion.  I saw it at The Rocking Horse cross stitch shop in Farmington, Michigan right before they closed and was able to get their conversion. They used to have it on their website, but I honestly haven't checked to see if they still do.    

So, yes, I hermitted and stitched.  I'm also counting all of the above for .  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching and is a way for us to say "thank you" for gifted stitching goodies, show things we are stitching as gifts or whatever else we can shoehorn into the theme.  For the above,  Forever and Ever is a gift so that's an easy one.  I'm shoehorning the rest as I gave myself the gift of time (and permission) to start them.   

So 14 more days of vacation.  Today I plan to work on Christmas cards and then stitch and crochet (I am getting close to a finish on DSon's throw).  If you've read to here - thank you.  Seems that along with the stitching bug, the blogging bug has returned (and posting keeps me accountable).

Deep Breath!

I know, me posting two weeks in a row, is breath taking, but please, take a deep breath in, hhhooolllldddd iiitttt, slowly breath out I don't want to be the cause of any injuries if you pass out from shock.

November has decided to turn into mid-January!  Our highs are in the 40s F and next week there are a couple of days that we're supposed to be in the 30's F.   We'll welcome those temperatures in the office.  When I walked in yesterday, it was 84 F, we left the door open and opened the window, but finally had to turn on the window air conditioner unit and got the temperature down to a more comfortable 70 F by the time I left.  I'm afraid to call maintenance because they'll fix it so well that we won't have any heat - the joys of working in an almost 100-year old building with a heating system to match.

I actually have good work news to report.  I received a job offer and accepted it.  It's all contingent on a successful security check, but I think I'm okay there.  I applied for the job back in August and figured it had been filled, but I got the call on Tuesday!  I'll be with the same agency I am now, but will be in a writer/editor position rather than a loan specialist.  The new duties have been part of my last two jobs but only as a collateral duty.  I'll be doing technical writing on regulations, white papers and other things necessary to the operation of the programs in my agency, as well as ferrying things through the clearance and publication process. I'm a little nervous, but also excited to try something a bit different.

So my great plans to spend the majority of last weekend stitching, fell through.  I'm not sure what happened but I suddenly decided that I needed to inventory my stash.  That's not true, I am pretty sure of the reasons.  After reading the stories of the people that had to evacuate their homes due to the fires in California, it got me thinking that if something happened to my house, I don't have a good record of my "stuff".  I had also bought some storage bags and tags to replace the Ziploc bags I was using to store things so took care of two things at once.

Newly bagged and tagged charts.  I was able to put the charts, floss and fabric for three of the letters in this one.

 I upgraded my XStitch Plus app and started pulling things out.  It's nice to have the record, but it is time consuming to pull things out, type in the information, take the picture and then put it all away.  If all I did was the inventory part, it would have been faster, but I started trading out fabrics and finding missing threads and generally playing.  Of course I now want to start EVERYTHING!  I'm about half a third done with the inputting, but have plans to finish it up at a slightly slower rate.  I ran out of bags and tags, but what I have finished looks really nice and I can see what's what by looking at the tag.

When I finally quit organizing, I sat down with Forever and Ever by Cottage Garden Samplings.  When I started it was here:

and when I quit stitching Sunday night, I had a finished flower.

I think this is a stylized Hellebore flower

The fabric color in the top picture is closer to actual.  I'm stitching this on 40-count Tin Roof from Weeks Dye Works 1-over-2. I have a three-day weekend this weekend and have my crafting all planned out and this plays a central role.

I received an email saying my fabric for Magic Dreams. Boy shipped today.  I'm looking forward to getting it and planning that start.

Welcome November

You may want to grab your favorite beverage and snack as this turned out to be much longer than expected: 

If "in like a lion, out like a lamb" applied to November, the end of this month is going to be wonderful.  A strong cold front went through last night - it was about 80 F yesterday and it was in the mid-50s today - we were fortunate that a hole in the line of thunderstorms opened and went over us.  We got a lot of rain and it was very windy, but we didn't get the heavy rain and damaging winds that other areas got.

So, to recap October.  I went to Michigan the first weekend - I was my Mom's birthday surprise.  It was a down and up day.  We attended a funeral for one of my Dad's cousins - while sad, there were smiles and laughs as folks reminisced.  That evening the family took Mom to dinner in Windsor, Ontario and then the casino.  DSon and DNephew both won.  I prefer to think that I contributed to their winnings than that I lost.  Jack came over for one evening while his Mom and Dad went to dinner - he is getting around quite well now and decided he and GG (great-grandma) were going for a walk (not walking on his own yet, but I don't think it's going to be long now).

Overall, it was a great trip.

And since I brought Jack up, here he is in his Halloween costume:

DNephew dressed up like a Dad :-)

I also went to Virginia Beach and caught up with both sets of in-laws.  I got to DSiL's and meet the boys.  I have a feeling they are going to be hand-fulls when they get older or Vance is going to be the handful and Calder is just going to follow along.  Really hard to believe they are two months old already.

I did some stitching, but not as much as I would have liked.  I've compressed/irritated/who-knows-what the ulnar nerve in my left arm, so my pinky and half of my ring finger are numb. I'm supposed to keep the arm at less than a 90 degree angle, straight is ideal, so stitching has been a lot slower than normal as I adjust.  The orthopedist said it can take several months for it to heal.  If it doesn't I may be looking at surgery.  I have a brace I wear at night that keeps my arm straight and isn't sleeping like that fun??.  The one I wear during the day mostly just reminds me not bend it too far and also provides some padding when I forget and lean on it. Typing is interesting as while there's feeling, I have no real sense of where in space the fingers are. I can tell I'm hitting something but don't know exactly what until I look at what I typed.

Despite the nerve issue, I have two finishes:

Love You Dad by Bent Creek  Stitched on 28-count Summer Khaki with DMC 

Love You Mom by Bent Creek. Stitched on 28-count Summer Khaki with DMC

Yes, you've seen these before.  I made the same pieces for DNephew and his wife when they were expecting.  These are for DNiece and her husband.  I've got the backing fabric for both of them so just need to pull out the sewing machine and get them FFOed.

When I finished Love You Mom, I started this:

Forever and Ever by Cottage Garden Samplings
Chart #1 of the Songbird's Garden Series
Stitched on 40-count Tin Roof from Weeks Dye Works

I am really enjoying this piece and plan to spend a lot of time with it this weekend.

DNiece picked out the new baby's Christmas stocking.

Candy Nutcracker by Kooler Design Studio

 It's a really cute pattern, but because it's older there aren't any embellishments, so I may add some metallics and/or beads.  I am also switching the fabric to black.  Here's the floss toss

The pattern sure looks like there should be a lot more colors.  Here's a picture of it on black from the front of a Bucilla kit:

As soon as Forever and Ever is done this will go on the frame.  It will come back off the frame as soon as the fabric arrives for the birth notice piece I have planned.  I was browsing Cute Patterns by Maria over on Etsy and saw this:

Magic Dreams. Boy

 The theme for the baby's room is stars and moon and I thought this would be perfect.  I think I'm going to move the stars around in the lower right corner to make room for the pertinent information.  I found a piece of fabric from Fabrics by Stephanie LLC that I think will be perfect:

Neverland Sea by Fabrics by Stephanie LLC

The description says it's a "dark water scene".  I am hoping it's a good cross between water and sky.

As I mentioned earlier, I plan to spend my stitching time this weekend on Forever and Ever but starting next weekend, I have to really get busy with papercrafting as I have to finish cards for a baby shower, a wedding and Jack's birthday.  I then have a list of things I need to have finished by the Friday after Thanksgiving as I'm heading back to Michigan for the weekend and want to take as much of the Christmas things with me as I can.  I will be taking quite a bit of time off in November (from the 15th until December 3rd) so will have time to work on things during that time, but would like to have as much done before that as I can so I can concentrate on the more labor intensive things like baking Christmas cookies.

I have my 2020 stitching/crafting plans pretty well lined up.  It is an ambitious plan, but I think it's doable.  Of course, I have another 8 weeks or so to change my mind.

Coming Out of Hiding

I haven't really been hiding, just trying to find a balance and get myself settled again.  A bit back, I just suddenly felt like I'd walked out of a fog.  I finally figured out that my brain and body had finally processed and reconciled the stress-filled craziness that was my life the beginning of the year.  Don't know if I'll post any more frequently, but I am finding real happiness in the crafting/stitching that I have done since then and am making LOTS of plans for later (probably next year).

Lots of travel is happening right now, some for work, I was in Nashville last week and will be in Chicago next week, and some for me, I'll be heading to Michigan twice in November for DNiece's baby shower and Jack's first birthday.

In my last post I mentioned that Jack was almost crawling, well he's gone way past almost.  He is getting himself around just fine right now and has moved onto furniture cruising and walking behind a push toy.  This past weekend, he figured out how to climb stairs, much to his Mom's horror surprise. So hard to believe that he's nine months old already:

Winston the Magnificent announced that DNiece is having:

Yep, a new great-nephew is due in early February.  We're all super excited and can't wait to meet the newest member of the family.  I just finished the baby blanket for him:

Hugs & Kisses Baby Blanket by Jeanne Steinhilber

That tail at the top has been woven in so pretend it's not there.  Not a great photo, but I really love the pattern and enjoyed trying out some new stitches.  I have three balls of the same type yarn in a different colorway and may start another one as I'd like to see how the different colors play with the stitches.

While we're I'm talking about babies, here are my new nephews Calder and Vance:

Please ignore the arrow, this is a screen shot from a video 

They arrived on August 15th weighing 6 pounds 6 ounces and 5 pounds 8 ounces respectively.  DSIL says they are both very laid back and easy babies.  Grammy and Gramps are both over the moon to have them so close (they live three blocks away).  I haven't had a chance to see them in person but hope to get to Virginia Beach in October and spend some time with them.

I think that's all on the mini-baby boom.  I have stitching finishes and as I'm within the time period, I can count them toward a  post.  This may be the first posting for Gifted Gorgeousness I've made this year - which is very sad.  Anyway,  Gifted Gorgeousness is hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching   She started the SAL as a way for us to thank people that have gifted us with stitching goodness or to show things we are stitching as gifts.  This month, I have two pieces that fit:

Jack's stocking:

I ended up using snowflake buttons instead of stitching them as I just could not get the thread to cooperate and my snowflakes all looked half melted.  I have the fabric to FFO this piece, just need to sit down and do it.  I also need to decide if I want to put the called for pom-pom at the end of his hat.  The colors in this are much more vibrant than the photo as the green in the toe is a very bright lime green.

The second is for DNephew-in-law (I only use that for clarity as I just think of him as my nephew):

This is Love You Dad from Bent Creek:

This is my second go 'round with this pattern as I made DNephew a pillow when they were expecting Jack.  I have Love You Mom for DNiece ready to go as soon as this one is done.

Lots of stuff to do around the house this weekend, which is today and tomorrow as I leave for Chicago on Sunday, so not sure how much stitching will actually happen, but with summer ending - it's dark by 8:00, the leaves are changing and the breeze had a bit of a nip in it this morning - and me finally feeling more me, I'm hoping to get some plans together and actually follow through on them.