I need to work on my picture taking skills.

Funny how finding time to stitch is easy when you're not constantly sleeping (or working!). Been chipping away at Sunflower while uhm.. watching some of the Cali vs Murray trial. I duno about manslaughter, but the guy's gross negligence certainly didn't help.  I don't think he set out to intentionally be malicious, and that MJ was probably close to death as it was. What the doctor did after the fact may have saved him, but in this case, what he didn't do lead to him not being able to be resuscitated at all. Sad case. I don't know if I could really be a juror. All the blah blah blah without being able to stitch or do anything would drive me bonkers.

So on to the bad pic of Sunflower!

I did manage to go through my Stash with help from my cats, of course. I narrowed it down to:
Mira's Letter S for which I have all the materials for,
Cat Lessons for People if I haven't done it this year (have all materials),
Prairie Schooler 2011 Santa (need fabric),
some of the Britty Kitties I, II, The Britty Kitty Stocking (need fibers, buttons, and fabrics), even though I don't know how I am going to even finish the thing,
the Christmas Kitty ornament by Stitchy Kitty (need fabric and button),
Messenger by Fire Wing designs (need pattern and fiber).

I'll be putting my order in when I get my HST rebate cheque in October for the rest of the fabrics and fibers I need for those, and then I shall be set!

I still have some smaller patterns too that I recently bought, Summer Splendor by LHN and Wine a Bit by Lizzie*Kate which I'll also get around to doing at some point, too!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the creators of puppy pee pads. Emma absolutely refuses to go outside when it's raining. Or snowing. It's been very fall type weather with rain, and here she is standing at the door looking out, then looking at me with this DO I HAVE TO look on her face. I tell her that she is a dog and indeed must go outside to do her business. So she goes out and I close the door. I kid you not, not even 1 min later she's jumping incessantly at the door, ruining whatever finish it used to have on it. I ended up buying a 150 pack of puppy pee pads because it feels like it's going to be a long and cold winter.

I wonder who has who trained?

Waking up is hard to do!

For some reason the sore throat and general malaise that I had in August came back and I'm just getting over it again now. Since it happened twice I went to the doctor but she didn't think there was anything to be concerned about. It's super annoying because all I've been doing is sleeping! I even took off the second half of my Sunday shift because I was feeling so crappy.

I learned fast that I'm bad at deadlines, so that deadline of having ABC done by October went out the window. Whoops. Maybe by November? :D I am working on another WIP that I haven't touched in awhile, and that's Mirabilia's Sunflower Fairy!

It looks like I missed a spot on the wing with the dark blue line, but it's there. I went and looked after I took the picture because I thought I skipped it lol. Loving the colours.

One of the Blogs I follow was talking about doing a challenge next year to use what she has, and it really got me thinking that I might do just that. I'm sure we all have a ton of stash that we probably should be working on rather than buying more. At least I do. :)

So far this year I've done not too bad on my bucket list. Once I finish ABC of parenting and Sunflower here, I have 2 projects left on the list. Paladin by Fire Wing Designs, and Rules for Cat People by Lizzie Kate. Of course throughout I've also done a bunch of the Signet dragons for friends, and the halloween ornament which were not on the list. :D

I think that in the next couple weeks I'm going to go through my stash and decide just what I want to work on next year. I usually do a big stash buy in December/January of fabrics which I'll have to do again since I'm running low again. We'll see! I'll narrow it all down to basics and try to use what I have.

I switched out my summer bedding to the fall/winter. Fleece sheets, extra blankets, and a darker duvet cover because my darling Emma likes to run in from outside and immediately jump on the bed. When it's dry out that is not a problem. I had this idea in my head that I'd get this girly dog and name her Emma. What I ended up with is a dog who likes to kill wildlife, roll in it's guts, and find the most muddy part of the yard to dig in. At least she's named Emma?

Anyway that's about it for now, I have a desire to go through my stash!

Feels a bit like Fall now

Lots of rain and clouds and wind. Really starting to feel like fall.

I tried my hand at a flat ornament today after quickly stitching up Frightful by It's DaffyCat. I just used what I had on hand, and I don't really have a fancy edger tool since I want to make a few things to practice on before I splurge on tools.

Anyway! Here S/he is!

It's being squished by my Egyptian Mythology books at the moment to make sure it stays flat while the glue dries. For a first attempt I think it's ok. I could have been a bit more precise with the measurements, but I couldn't be bothered finding a ruler lol.

Things I need for next time: RULER LOL! and a cutting mat so I don't go and mark up my Alex unit, and patience. :)

/wave!

My weekends are usually super busy with work, and today I am working a split shift so I don't have much time to do anything since I usually nap between shifts hah!

I do however, have a couple of links I would like to share that have come into radar the past week or so.

Nazis, needlework, and my dad is a very interesting read, about how a POW in WW2 passed the time in very interesting ways. I was never much into learning about anything to do with the Wars, but then I started working for people who had been in them. Through personal stories of others, both from the German POV and the Allies, it's made me appreciate and want to learn all I can about the people.

Something I didn't know was that my Great Grandfather served, and was actually at a very famous Battle of Vimy Ridge. Not only did he survive that when so many perished, he saved a man who never forgot it. He was buried under mud after a mortar landed close by, and my Great Grandfather dug him out. My Grandma has the newspaper clipping the saved man wrote years later. Unfortunately my Great Grandfather died from illness when he was 28, only a few months after my Grandma was born. Great Granddad, I salute you. :)

Next story I just heard about but has been around forever probably, is Fine Cell Work. It's a program aimed at inmates to help rehabilitate them, PLUS you can buy some of their handywork. Amazing, really! I know cross stitching has helped me through some times in my life when I really needed something to focus on. There really is nothing more calming for me than a needle and thread and the ability to create something beautiful.

I don't have any progress pics to show at the moment as work has me busy, so I just wanted to share those links for now! Take care everyone. :) Oh and forgive any typos, I'm not wearing my glasses right now. :D

Ahoy!

Here is the finished second Dragon that will he heading towards New Zealand in a couple days when I  decide to leave the house for something other than work.

You may notice he is missing something. Yeah. I ran out of thread. BUT I think he looks okay without it. :D I'm pretending it's somewhere infront of him, just out of our vision. Yep. I have to iron them both, get them in the envelope and then convince myself that putting on a bra and going to the post office isn't really like heading into Mordor. 

I was at a client's the other day and she had her cross stitch stash out. I was giddy with excitement, and basically threw myself on her floor so I could go through the box of stuff. I really tried not to roll around in it, but even if I had, she would have understood. She had a lot of prairie schooler patterns from the 90s which doesn't sound old until I do the math. She also pulled out all the little ornaments she stitched way back as well. I really wish I could have taken pictures of all of it, but I don't feel right taking pictures as I'm supposed to be at work, plus I feel it's a little intrusive. Then she pulled out the big guns. A box full of silk threads from I don't even know where, or what brand, OR ANYTHING BUT I STROKED THEM LIKE NO TOMORROW. /fanself. We had a lot of fun. I take some of my things over to her when I know I'll be visiting because she's just like me when it comes to fabrics, fibers, and patterns. :)

So I'm happy to be done my little side projects of Dragons, and it's back to Lizzie*Kate. I pulled it out yesterday and admired what I have done, and not worried about what I haven't. I started to stitch a bit on it, but then Weezi decided he had to be on my lap. I have Emma on my left and a 12" square Qsnap infront of me while craning my neck around it to try and see glimpses of Jonathan Rhys Meyers. I guess a 15 pound cat that likes to be cradled as if he were a baby isn't much more of a bother, is it? I ended up putting it back in it's drawer so I could cradle the cat and view JRM without hurting myself.

Well I believe that is all for now! I have a full day at work tonight, so I must get ready for that. Happy Stitching! :)

Sometimes

I wish I could be one of those super prolific stitchers. We all know one. The person who cranks them out like they work in a sweat shop. I think this is why I try to limit myself to medium to small projects. Even this Lizzie*Kate which is something like 12x12" is bordering on TOO large, yet it's not a hard or complicated pattern. It's just. Large. For me. 5 months have passed and I'm still just over halfway done.

And the worst part is I have these grand ideas of all the projects I want to be working on, but don't want to start til at least this one is done. Maybe I should take a page from one of the blogs I follow, and instead of a Wentzler Wednesday, I'll have Lizzie*Kate Tuesdays.

So I offered up Fulgent to my Facebook friends and decided on giving it to a friend in New Zealand. He recently had a son and said it would look great in the nursery. Well he also has an older son around 9 I think, and I can't send something for the baby and not send something for him. That is how my mom raised me. So thanks to her, I'm trying to finish another of the little signet dragons for him. I'm being stupid about that, too. I'm starting to think I won't have enough of the Threadworx colour for it. Patterns say about 5 yards. This fiber is 5 Yards, but it's looking like it's going to cut close. So what do I do? Do I work til the end of the road and see if I make it? Improvise if I need to?

Nope. Not me. I put off working on it, constantly worrying I won't have enough. Reality is I can't order more thread, so if worse comes to worse, I'll frog out the body/tail and redo in a dark colour I already have, so his wings remain purple, or if it's super close, I can find a colour in my stash that is as close to the purple as I can get and finish it off that way and hope nobody notices lol.

I guess I could try a goal approach to the Lizzie*Kate, and say... have it done by Oct 1st. That gives me 17 days to hustle. Let's try that, shall we? And then after that I can do whatever I want. Maybe finish my Sunflower fairy, or do the Wine A Bit pattern, or even start on FireWing's Paladin! Goal for today is to finish the little dragon and get them ready for shipping.

After a nap, ofcourse :)

Fulgent Finished

Yay. Like with the last one, I skipped out on a part of it because it didn't look "right" to me. But now he is done and I can continue on with other projects!

Fulgent update

So here is my progress on Fulgent. As I posted before, I had to frog his entire tail, and redo it. I'm using Threadworx in Blue Swirl (11382) which is super pretty.Fabric is an Annabelle in 28 count Ice Blue. I still have his wings to go!

I tend to use a lot of blue lol. Next two dragons will be in purple and red so I'm trying to get away from using blue all the time! You should see my closet. I had to make a real effort to not buy blue clothes this year!

This Dragon is being offered to my Facebook friends, who pretty much just happen to be a lot of Warcraft guildies. I pick dragons for them because most guys tend to want something like this, rather than flowery kittens!

This week I want to get a good chunk of ABC of Parenting done. I really need to finish it and get it on over to Amanda's house. I've had it since April or May. Should be done by now. I'm such a slacker. That is it for now! :)