Whatever doesn't kill me doesn't make me stronger.

I wasn't going to start posting until I had pictures to show, but I still haven't been able to stitch. I did want to post an update though.

My mom made it through the heart attack. It was scary as heck. I was the one who found her, identified what was going on, and got her to the hospital asap. I am really really glad I have so much healthcare experience, and just plain gut instincts.

My pinched nerve is still pinched. I have the pain managed pretty well, but I don't have much feeling in my right forearm and index finger of the hand (of course it's my dominant arm). I can technically stitch, but I have a hard time holding and even feeling the needle because it feels like the finger isn't even there.

I'm going to a massage/acupuncturist on Tuesday to try and get this sorted out. If she can't, it's off to a Chiropractor.

I carry the weight of the world on my shoulders, and the pain is proof I'm holding too much right now.

On to stitchy things!

Because of the heart troubles with Mom, this year's Christmas was pretty much nonexistent. I am just happy she was home for it, and don't really give a crap about presents. Anyway, a few months ago I caught wind of the Joannes exclusive Ginghers "Jennifer" and since mom was heading into the states, I asked her to have a look for them. After she came home from the states, I may or may not have looked through the receipts to snoop to see if she found them, and she had a bill for Joannes, but they weren't on it. I figured they were sold out. Then everything happened and I forgot about it. Christmas day rolls around and I'm sitting with Mom in the livingroom and she asks my Dad to get the boxes off her dresser. He does and comes back with the Jennifers!

I'll tell you what, when it comes to finding hard to find cross stitch things, she's a master. She has no idea what to even look for as I only give her general descriptions, but she somehow does it. My new scissors have been renamed to Karen, after my mom. :)

I made a lot of progress this year with finishes. I think this was my most prolific year yet with 18 projects finished.

My bucket list made at the beginning of the year was this:

Messenger by Fire Wing Designs Finished and mailed to Adam, UK
Summer Splendor by LHN Started but not finished. Hate it!
2011 Santa by Prairie Schooler Not Started and I think I switched it to the 2012 Santa
Letter S by Letters by Nora Corbette Finished!
Follow Me by Primitive Needle  Finished and sent to Jackie, CAN
Christmas Kitty Moon by Stitchy Kitty Finished
Britty Kitty Christmas Stocking by Brittercup Designs Not Started
Britty Kitties I & II by Brittercup Designs Made one design, the one for Ham. He passed away not that long ago and his owner put the stitch where she can see it all the time. RIP Ham, you were a wonderful Cat who lived a very long 24 years!
Cat Lessons for People by Lizzie*Kate Not Started
Buzzzz by Bent Creek Done!

I strayed a lot from the list, making random patterns for friends throughout the year.

Pinkie Pie for Ryan, US
Umbreon, Jolteon, Espeon, Eevee, Flareon, Vaporeon For Tim, AUS
Rageface for Bennet, NZ
Portal Towel for Deb, US
Tribal Orca for Jer, CAN

and Aryll whom I don't have a home for yet.

Oh and I also finished Paladin this year which was a carryover from 2011, he was mailed to Greg, US.

I really want to make goals for next year, but this arm is such a pain in the ass that I don't want to make goals and not be able to do them, so I'm holding off on next year's bucket list until it's sorted out. I still need to finish the last two pokemon for Tim, so that's the best goal I've got right now. 

I would like to thank all you lovely followers to my blog. I'm a horrible commenter, forget to reply to emails, and just a plain scatterbrain, but I appreciate everyone who has stuck with me! You inspire, enable, and your good thoughts and prayers really mean a lot to me.

Now lets have a better next year. :) I think I smell a giveaway soon, don't you? :)

When it rains, it pours (and snows.)

I still haven't been stitching because of this arm. I did finally try Aleve and it's really taken the edge off.

My Mom had a pretty significant heart attack on Wednesday, so life is busy throwing me more crap. I've just been so busy with being at the hospital, taking care of things at home, and work pushing me into overtime every day I've worked so far this week that I am ~tired~. Too tired to stitch, too tired to think. Too tired for computer.

So this is my hiatus until things settle down. I'll hopefully be back with better news in the new year.

uggh

So I have some bad news! Tuesday night I twisted in my sleep and now have a pinched nerve in my neck, which is making my right arm feel like it's been through a meat grinder. I gave it a couple days and went to the Doctor on Thursday who said YEP a pinched nerve and not a heart attack. He said it would work itself out and gave me a note excusing me from work for 2 days, thursday and friday. He wanted to do 4 days but I said no.

I should have taken the 4 days. My arm is still giving my a ton of trouble and doing this job with a bum arm is no fun at all.

I haven't been able to stitch for 5 days, or use the computer for very long, and I'm super grumpy from the pain that advil nor tylenol will not help with. I really don't know how people can live with chronic pain.

Anyway. I am going to drown myself in hot chocolate now and hopefully I'll be better soon.

Aryll Finished.

Aboot time eh.

GOALS?!

I know I've tried this goal thing before and failed miserably. So I'm going to try it again and hope for better results. Who needs logic!

I really want to get Aryll finished. She's really close to being done, I'd say a good 3-4 hour chunk of stitching and she will be done. I haven't started Glaceon yet, which I'm blaming my friend for. Ok so it's not all his fault.  The last couple weeks we've been having a hard time getting together for gaming+stitching. He's bogged down at work and being social, and I've been tired after my work.

Work is going great! I just find myself getting tired as the work days go on. By Sunday all I want to do is sleep, Monday I'm a zombie, and then it's my weekend where I recharge lol.

So for December the plan is getting Aryll finished and Glaceon done. Glaceon shouldn't take more than a week to do if I get 2 hours a night in like I did with Vaporeon. Leafeon has the most colours so I'm leaving it for last. Maybe I'll get that done in December, but I'm keeping my goals small this time lol.

I got some crap on the Aryll fabric which I'm hoping I can get out after I'm done stitching, and hoping the threadworx doesn't bleed. Ok not literal crap. I don't even know what it is. :D

Okay that is it from me. Hopefully some pictures soon :)

what is this work thing

that keeps cutting into my CRAFTY TIME?

This weekend I decided it would be my very own stitch and bitch at a local cafe. Ok so I was the only one there, and I wasn't bitching. But I was stitching and enjoying really yummy hot chocolate. the first day, because it was spur of the moment, I worked on Summer Splendor by LHN and realized how much I hated it. I was only there an hour between clients so I put a few stitches in while hoping I'd somehow slop hot chocolate all over it which would give me an excuse to can the thing, but alas, I'm just not drooly enough. the lid probably didn't help my cause either.

Today I had 2 hours between clients so I brought Jolteon to finish up. I again enjoyed a really yummy hot chocolate but this time I was hoping I wouldn't slop all over the place! I pretty much got him finished there, yay. I just put the last couple stitches in now.

rawr

 

I had a couple people wander over to me to see what I was doing. I got the whole, "oh, you must have a lot of patience" from some but there was a really nice older lady that chatted with me and we had a lot of laughs over this and that.

I just sometimes wish I had more local people to do this with. :)

Next up is Glaceon, hopefully I have less of a frog-fest with that little one.

Late for IHSW~

This full time work thing is cutting into my stitching time! (and gaming!!!!)

I have barely touched Jolteon. By barely I mean not at all. I did work on Aryll a bit, so I can show the progress on that.

And that was it. :( I hope everyone else had a better IHSW than I did!

Really Early Friday Update

Really feels like I haven't done much stitching this week. After Jolteon's frog-fest I have to admit I was a bit sick of stitching.

Here is Jolteon looking all angry. Probably from being picked out all those times. I'd be mad too.

 And here is Aryll, with her other hand stitched in. She looks less creepy now!

I'm getting this really strong urge to start something big. Something that will take me 20+ years to complete that will be what you'd call, my life's work. I was looking through the Golden Kite store and found this one I'm pondering over.

- Stitch count (w x h): 450 x 708
- Total colors: 169
- Solid colors: 58
- Blended colors: 111

84 US Dollars seems a lot for the pattern, well, it's actually 94 because I'd want a hard copy of it. Or it's 390 dollars as a full kit. It's an amazing piece of artwork, though.  I'd also want to get a scroll frame just for that. It's huge, it would take me forever, and the subject is something I like. Especially that Silver Classic Tabby kitten.  I would probably have to learn how to park threads, too. I can imagine this thing being a lot of different colours all over the place. And all that blended!

What do you guys think, would you do something this big and detailed? Am I being crazy? Am I just trying to compensate for not having kids and thinking this will be something I might be remembered for but really it'll end up in some thrift store for 10 bucks after I die? HALF FINISHED?

Ah well. I shall indeed ponder it some more. :)

Jolteon is trying to kill me.

Dat Jolteon. You look so easy. I started stitching with such confidence.

Now I'm a complete wreck and questioning my ability as a stitcher. *IF* I can even call myself that!

I've had to frog the damn thing at least 5 times already, with the first frog being the ENTIRE THING down to nothing again. 3 hours of work, picked out.

Why is this so hard? WHY.

Is it my eyesight? Is it the pattern being colours? Is it because I'm not marking as I'm going? Is it because the printer I printed it on isn't the best? Is it because I printed it too small? is it because Weezi wants to be on top of me every second I'm trying to stitch? Is it because I've got other things on my mind? Is it because I'm stitching this late at night (11pm-1am) and I'm tired?

I just don't get it. I've been cross stitching for almost 20 years now. Why is this little 3"x3" POKEMON giving me the fits?

Ah well. I will defeat this foe. JUST YOU WAIT.

Vaporeon

I finished Vaporeon last night. I'm trying to think how long it took me in hours. I know just his head took me four hours, and then I've been stitching him almost exclusively with my friend playing vidya games after work this week, so maybe 10 hours total? Since we won't be having our usual brodates on Saturday anymore, a few nights a week we'll be gaming and stitching after work for about 2~ hours each time. Really helps keep me motivated on stitching these Pokemon. :)

Right now he's playing Bioshock 1, which I absolutely love. The story line in that game is really amazing. He'll probably play Bioshock 2 after. I can't wait for the next game coming out next year hopefully! It looks amazing.

Next up is Jolteon!

Putting this here

because it makes me happy. These are the 4 pokemon I did earlier this year.. framed!

I think he did a great job framing them, and I made sure when he bought the four frames, to buy four more haha. :D

Why is it November already?

Gosh where DID the year go?

I got the supplies needed to start on the next wave of Pokemon, except I'm a tool and had him order the wrong fabric. Not to worry, since it was only 14ct AIDA, I went to Michaels and bought some.

I started working on Vaporeon yesterday during our last "brodate" before I start working full time. That sort of makes me sad that our weekly time together where he games and I stitch has come to an end due to our work schedules.

This is after 4 hours of work.

 I'm always amazed at how it looks when I see it in a picture. When I'm stitching them, the colours look like they don't work at all. But then my face is up close and personal to the project.

Since getting my new job news, I haven't really been stitching much at all. I haven't started the new hours yet, I go in on Tuesday to fill in all the paperwork, and then I think I start them? While I should be enjoying my last bit of freedom, I'm also eager to start my new shift because I really need the money. For stash.

Here is Aryll, and I really need to stitch in her hand because that is creeping me out a bit looking at it haha.

Thank you all for the nice comments about my new position at work. I'm still very excited about it! :)

I hope everyone has a great week. :)

I have some good news.

For 4 years I've been working as a casual in home support. If you don't know what that is, I go from home to home and help people stay independent. It's a very lovely line of work, and every day I am out in my community I get to help people.

Every week I worry if I'll get enough hours. Every week I fret and try to make casual hours work to cover my bills. I hope that my vehicle doesn't break down or need work, because I wouldn't be able to afford it if it did. 

A job position opened up for my area for full time, which is 35~ hours a week. I decided, what the heck, I'll put my name into that hat. I was shocked when I got the call today from my office telling me I got the position. I literally started crying I was so happy.

So here I am, about to become a full time Community Health Worker, with health and dental benefits, real vacation time, and a guaranteed income of at least 35 hours (give or take a couple hours, I still realize I'm very low seniority so they'll do their best to honor the 35, but I do understand when they can't.)

I can breathe a sigh of relief :)

Spamming my blog!

Aryll is stitching up SO FAST!

I went to Michaels today to pick up yet more thread for something, I can't even remember now and surprised they had the colours I needed. Shocking, I KNOW!

I also picked up some DMC variations, which I haven't used before but I figured what the heck. I picked out a nice variegated green that I think I'll use when I stitch Link and a Purple/bluish for when I stitch Medli. Of course I should have taken a picture of it but I only thought of the green for some reason!

Aryll waves hi! She's pretty cute. I packed up the Zebra Moth Dragon and Tribal Whale for tomorrow. One will be mailed off to England and the other to Winnipeg, Canada. My projects see more of the world than I do!

Anyway, that is all for now. :)

IHSW (part II)

Yay for my second one. :) This is the last of my time off for the year, boo!

I started Aryll pattern by Dorkstitch this weekend. I'm using 16 count AIDA and Threadworx Lavarocks (a dark gray). I'm undecided about her flower right now. Think I should do it in orange to match the orange in the flower of her dress? Or should I leave it completely monotone? Help!

The reason I'm making it is because I watch Wind Waker speed runs a lot. I'm going to offer it to one of the speed runners, but it might be a bit awkward since he has no idea who I am, nor that I am even doing this! HAH. I'm weird, I know. Even if he declines it, I'm sure I can find someone else for it. Nice having so many gamer friends, that's for sure!

Oh yeah, guess I should post the picture of what I've done so far.

I'm stitching it in hand because the fabric is SO STIFF. Makes me realize why I stitch with Jobelans and Linens lol.

Don't you hate when you think you're happy with where your stash is at, and then you see more that you think you just HAVE to have? Yeah. That happened to me On Thursday last week. I came across all these 5x7 Disney kits from Candamar Designs and now I want the Little Mermaid, The Lion King ones, Beauty and the Beast, and the Snow White one. My brain is wondering how I am going to get them now. Christmas is coming.. but I went and told everyone not to buy me anything hahaha. I think if I still want them by the time my Birthday rolls around in March, I'll get them ordered. :)

I've counted 15 projects done this year, and that's the most I've done in a long time. Granted some were small, like the Pokemon, but still they count!

I think that is all for tonight. I hope everyone had a great IHSW! :)

things and such

I was talking to my friend the other day, the one I made all the pokemon for. He was going to IKEA to get some frames for them. We got into the topic of selling my craft, and I just don't see the point in it. I'd never get what I put into it, and if I started doing it to sell.. it would become less of an enjoyable hobby and more of a job. He told me he would pay me 50 dollars EACH for 4 more pokemon, which is basically all the Eevee evolutions. I downloaded the patterns and went through my stash to see if I had all the colours, which I didn't. I told him that I wouldn't charge him for making them, but he would have to pay for the threads I don't have, and the fabric.

The threads and fabric are on the way, and I'm left wondering why I agreed to do this haha. Probably because he's my best friend. :)

I hang out on the 123 Stitch message board, and they have a Christmas wishlist thing going. I've been browsing the list hoping that I'd be able to find something someone wants that I have. I also decided to add a wish to it, which is a little out of character for me. I really like giving, and always tend to feel bad when someone gifts me something. I got an email today from someone on the board saying they would like to grant my wish. I'm pretty floored because I wasn't actually expecting someone to actually grant it. It's also pretty exciting, and I do have feelings of guilt lingering. I have to keep telling myself that it's OKAY to accept kindness now and then.

I am trying to decide what I want to work on next while I wait for the threads to arrive. Maybe I should take a bit of a break, I've been stitching like mad lately. But still, I feel lost without something on the go. :) I can't decide between Wind Waker's ARYLL pattern, or something else I have kitted up. I am super glad I kitted up everything, it makes it easier to just start stuff!

I have 5 days off coming up soon, so hopefully I've decided on something by then :)

Kitty finish

This was fun to work on. :) Lots of different threads and metallics make it interesting, and I love the little button! so cute.

I adore orange tabbies :)

It's feeling a bit like Christmas up in here

After rummaging through my kitted up projects I picked up Christmas Kitty Moon by Stitchy Kitty. It was on this year's bucket list and I figured I could get it done pretty fast. This is how much I've done this weekend

It uses both Fuzzy Stuff and Whisper thread which I've never used before, blending filaments (Love the stuff!) and #4 braid. My first time doing Lazy Daisy stitches as well. I had to look those up lol. They could probably be a bit neater :) This will also be my first time making something into a decent ornament. I cheated and bought those finishing forms for this. :D

Oh, and since I had you guys ask, I need DMC # 3753 and 831. The reason I'm not ordering them online is because I have very limited use of the credit card, and I don't want to spend even MORE money on stash. I'm happy where my stash is at the moment lol. So ordering 2 threads and paying more in shipping seems rather silly to me.

If anyone can help a sista out, I'd appreciate it very much! :D

and another finish.

My needles seem to be smoking. At least I like to think so. So about that 310 DRAMA. I actually looked in a box neatly labeled "DMC FLOSS" and found a baggie filled with 310. I don't remember being so organized, but apparently when I wound all the bobbins this year I put all my doubles/extras into this box.

Who'd a thunk?

Tribal Orca has now been completed and I didn't lose my stash street cred in the process. That my friends, is a victory.

Now what to work on? I have Tribal Maple leaf with Honky Tonk Threadworx kitted up and ready to go. It's a project for a dude in New Zealand. I also want to do DREAM, but my Michaels is out of 2 DMC thread colours I need and I don't know how to get them. I can't order online just two colours. :(

Anyway, I think I will fret away the rest of my day thinking of what I want to start next. Oh those first world problems :)

Every day I'm Pand-a-ren

Except I'm not a panda. Undead fo life, yo! Finally got my character to level 90 and have been spending a lot of time working on my in game farm. Think Farmville but in WoW! I was up til 3am last night getting a cat for my farm. This cat does absolutely nothing. Was it a total waste of time and sleep? Yes. Was it worth it? YES haha.

My friend Adam in the UK has finally got his streaming computer up and running and I can thank him that I'm getting any stitching done at all. When he tells me he's about to stream I stop playing WoW and settle in for a couple hours of stitching and watching :)

Orca is looking a bit more like a whale.

I'm using 3 strands of 310 because the coverage is horrible with only 2 strands on this 28 count fabric. What is up with DMC lately? It seems like the quality sort of sucks now. I may have also ran out of 310.


... for shame. What cross stitcher who has any pride at all in her stash runs out of 310? I'm only telling you guys this so that you don't end up in my predicament. Go buy more, tomorrow. Even if you have 10 skeins already. DO IT.

That budget I said I was doing early this year is finally being put in motion, but I think I can spare a couple bucks to buy more black and 2 other colours I'm missing so I can do Joan Elliott's DREAM.

And that is all for now. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving if you're celebrating it today (or tomorrow in my case!) Om nom nom turkey. :)

Tribal Style

My World Of Warcraft character is leveling very, very, slowly. I just hate leveling alone and it seems all my friends went crazy and are now max level. Woe is me.

The good news is that I'm getting a lot more stitching done than I thought I would. I introduce you to Tribal Orca. :) I can't remember what colour the fabric is but it's probably somewhere on this site. I do know it's 28 count jobelan.  I bought it was before I saw this pattern, but when I did finally come across it, I knew it was the fabric to use!

I love the tribal style because they tend to stitch up very quickly, and you're free to use whatever fabric and fiber you want with it, so you can use up what you have in your stash. :)

That is really it for now. :) I'll probably get him done in the next week or less with how much I've been stitching. Then it's on to the tribal maple leaf which has a home already in New Zealand. :)

Finished!

And She is done :)

I think that makes finish number 12 this year, which is up from last year!

Next up is Tribal Orca. :)

I have been stitching

Despite Mists of Pandaria being out, I have been stitching as well! I got in a nice 2 hour chunk done on Messenger while I watched my friend Tim play his character this morning :)

Aww yee. I've also been working on Summer Splendor by Little House Needleworks when I have time between clients.

And that's about it for now. :)

Messenger is a little bigger. :)

So my dream of having her done by Pandaria isn't happening haha. But she is close to being done. :)

Very regal. :)

I finally managed to mail off the projects I finished this year to their respective owners. Rageface is off to NZ, the Pokemon to AUS, Portal towel to USA, and Follow Me to Canada. :D I feel good about that haha.

That is it for now! :)

Quick Post

I mailed off all the patterns today. Hopefully I didn't mess up and everyone got what they asked for. :) Thank you for taking some of them off my hands! I hope to have an update in the next couple days, but Torchlight is taking up some of my time, and family the other. :)

IHSW

My very first one, and I think it went okay. I DID get some stitching done and I was hermitting.  That's what I needed to do, right? :D

I am at the halfway point of Messenger. She's starting to remind me of a zebra moth!

Yeeeep.

I did have fun going through my stash and removing some I can give away, and kitting up other things.

I also ended up playing a bunch of Warcraft. Saturday I did my ICC OR BUST run with some guildmates to finish off all the achievements in there and I am now the proud owner of my very first bonedrake!

Awww yeeee. Last night I got my Paladin from 81-83, which was nice. Guildies ran 2 of us through some instances for experience and gearz. Was fun. I have one guildie who is SO SOUTHERN! it cracks me up when he says "sumbitch" hahaha.

Torchlight 2 comes out this week, and then Pandaria after that on the 25th. Lets hope I get Messenger done before Pandaria at least! I have a feeling my needle won't be hitting the fabric for a month or two after that. :)

Thinking about taking the next IHSW off next month too, but I better submit that time off notice now if I'm going to do it then haha! Hope everyone had a great weekend. I know I did. :)

Need to get crackin

I need to get working on Messenger. I haven't touched it in a week I think. Or feels like a week.

I also feel like I need to do a stash purge. My pattern drawer is full to the brim and when I went through my fabric drawer I found another stack of patterns. I actually rolled my eyes when I found it. Am I *really* going to stitch all this crap?

~interlude as I go through my pattern drawer~

I now have a stack of patterns! I thought it would be more than what it is. I have a lot of really old freebies clogging up my binder. I must have gone through a print every freebie ever phase.

Finished Kitting up a few of the newer patterns I have, and taking stock how much fabric I have left from when I stocked up last year, and what I have left on the 2012 Bucket list.

I have kitted:

• Tribal Orca
• Tribal Flamingo
• Tribal Maple Leaf
• 2012 Prairie Schooler Santa (was supposed to be 2011 but I like 2012 better also on the 2012 bucket list)
• Cat Lessons for People (2012 bucket)
• Christmas Kitty Moon (2012 bucket)
• Britty Kitty Stocking (2012 bucket)
• LHN Summer Splendor (2012 bucket, started but not finished)
• Mirabilia Halloween, Christmas, and Easter Fairies

Things I would like to do

• Legend of Zelda Patterns! (have fabric and fiber for it)
• More game themed towels (need towels...)
• DREAM (need some DMC for it, but have rest of materials)

Going back through my posts so far this year, I'm surprised with just how much I've done. I think my list for this year was a bit ambitious considering I'm also a gamer. I have a big fear I won't get anything done when Mists of Pandaria comes out in 11 days!

So just a heads up, you might not hear from me for awhile haha.

I am considering offering up the patterns in a giveaway, but I need money for postage first so it'll be a couple weeks. I'll strive to get pictures of what I have up for people to look at. I think basically I'll post all the pictures, and people can tell me what they're interested in. If more than one person wants something, I'll draw names, otherwise you get what you ask for lol.

So from here on out, unless a new pattern SINGS to me, I don't really need anything else for this year, or the next. I am content with my stash that is manageable right now. I could probably use a couple more hand dyed fabrics, but since everything I have is kitted up at the moment, even that can wait. :)

Spamin

Yesterday I tripped over my next purchase, literally. The Amazon dood left it between the screen door and the door, so when I opened the door to walk out, I tripped on it. Thanks, guy!

Been wanting this book for ages, but it has proven hard to get in Canada. Amazon.ca, Chapters.indigo, and everywhere else I looked they were out of stock and have been out of stock for months! I'm not into ordering stuff off eBay, or from different sellers on Amazon. If I'm ordering from Amazon, I want it to be FROM Amazon, not a third party seller. Anyway, that limited me.

I was finally able to order it from the US Amazon, of course for a lot more in shipping charges, but whatever! I HAVE IT!

I basically wanted it for the word charts in it, Hope, Believe, Imagine, and Dream.


Now if only I could stitch faster.

Another post!

Annnd Follow Me is finished. :) After a movie and chatting up my AUS friend on Skype til 2:30am, I am done with this project. I loved working with the Belle Soie silk, but with a pricetag of almost 8 dollars for one skein, it's probably my only project working with it. Unless I win the lotto, then I'll have my own craft warehouse and all the silks money can buy.

~*dreaming*~

yummm stashy goodness

Yay it arrived today. Which also happens to be the day I remembered that I wasn't supposed to buy any stash this year LOL. OH WELL!

What's not shown is the DMC 310 and B5200, and the Belle Soie Noir. Now I can finish Follow ME!

My goals for this month (haha goals.. ) is to finish Follow me by the 23rd so I can mail it off to my friend for her Hallowe'en decorations this year. I also need to mail rageface and all the pokemons still :( I'm so bad at mailing crap. Has to wait til the 23rd though when I get paid.

I blew so much money last week. Between rent, groceries, cell phone bill, new towels, pet food, and the heated blanket.. I'm seriously broke!

I bought a heated blanket from Sears, it's not a huge one that's like, bed size. It's one for my lap because I am tired of being frozen during the winter lol. Basement living is great in the summer, but this being a really old house, trying to keep warm is challenging. I hope this helps!

I'm currently on my weekend right now. I go back to work for Wed/Thurs/Fri and then I have another 4 days off. Can't wait! :)

Yes I'm geeky.

I found a bunch of The Legend of Zelda cross stitch patterns from Dorkstitch here on blogspot, and that lead me to Michaels to get the fabric for them. While I was there I picked up one of those towels you can stitch on, with the idea I wanted Hyrule crests along them bottom.

But then I saw a pattern on Spritestitch for a Portal stitch, and a few hours later, this is what I came up with!

I love it. :D Now I want to go back and spend even more money I don't have on more towels hahah. :)

Messenger update

Rolling right along with Messenger. What I love about these sort of designs is how quickly they can stitch up when you're not fooling around with switching threads all the time. :) Glad I ordered more of them!

My goal was to do the whole left wing today, and I missed it by a bit. I am very happy with the progress though!

Messenger and new stash ahoy!

I ordered some new stash today! Needed the belle soie silk to finish Follow Me. Of course I had to order more lol. On the way now is White Willow tribals Orca, flamingo, and maple leaf with the threads to go with them (hot pink and honky tonk threadworx), and prairie schooler 2012 Santa. Also picked up piecemakers and bohin needles to try aaaaand pink Victorian scissors lol.

I started Messenger by fire wing designs and I'm using 28ct jobelan hand dyed I'm desert stone with threadworx leather and lace.

Going to try posting with my phone!

*edit* the phone doesn't format it very well, and the picture was added sideways and way too small. lol.

So there is the correct picture. :)

Yay finished

And She's done. I left out a bit of the beading because I really dislike beading lol. I am very happy with her. :) I used 28 count jobelan (I think..) in raspberry lite, and the Crescent colours it suggested.

I'm about ready to order the thread I need to finish Follow Me, and I've been adding and subtracting stuff from the wishlist that I'll be ordering along with it. I am definitely getting White Willow Stitching tribals Orca, Flamingo, and Maple Leaf. I'm getting the thread for Flamingo and Maple Leaf as well while I'm at it. Threadworx for those. I love threadworx colours! :D

Anyway that is all for now. Glad to finally have a finish after all this time. :)

It happened!

I ran out of thread. :(

Off to order more, I guess!

Finally! a small finish.

This was supposed to be done MONTHS AGO. I finally managed to finish the last of the Pokemon for my AUS friend, Tim. Here is Eevee in all (her? his?) it's glory.

Now all that's left to do is to wash them all, iron, and then mail. I'm also sending him all the materials to make his own! If he learns to do it, that'll be two doods I've taught how to stitch. :D And by taught I mean throw materials at them, google some how-tos and then leave them to learn on their own because I am a horrible teacher. But it still counts in my book. :D

I think today, after I'm doing playing too much World of Warcraft, I'll work on Letter S and try getting her done in the next little bit.

We'll see. :)

Ahoy!~

Week of work is over! Hurray! :D

Saturday I took Follow Me to work so I could work on it there. It's coming along nicely but I think I mentioned it before, I'm running out of silk. This isn't the first time this has happened to me. Most designers stitch the project before printing, so why do some leave out how much thread you'll actually need?

The silk is almost 8 dollars a skein, too. So I was hoping that one would be enough.

The plus side is that once I run out, I can then order more.. and a few other things I'm sure will make their way into my cart.

So here is Follow Me.

One thing about this project.. it smells like my Grandma. The fabric smells like her. I used the exact same fabric on Paladin and it didn't smell like her. I cut that fabric in 2, so it was the same piece. But once I started working on this.. I don't know. It's a little creepy lol. She's alive and well, so. Don't know what's going on!

Not sure what I'm going to do with this project after I've done it. I do have a friend who loves Hallowe'en, so might frame it and mail it to her for her decorations. I'll figure something out, I'm sure. :)

Anyway take care and happy stitching!.

Holy crud!

SO yeaaaaaaahh.. I didn't forget about this haha. I... really haven't been stitching at all lately. I mean, I finally picked up the needle tonight to work on Letter S while at my Saturday client, but I haven't done anything since I finished Rageface. Which I still need to mail, even.

To be honest the past month has been emotionally draining. My mood swings have been uncontrollable and it's making me miserable. What really sucks is that stitching always relaxes me, but I can't seem to pick up the needle to do it. I have immersed myself in gaming, though, to get me through it. I'm finally starting to feel a bit more like myself.

Anyway, here is my latest Letter S picture.

Pretty much just the wings to do, the flower bit, and then the beading. She was meant to be done a couple weeks ago, but yeah. Oh wells.

Hope everyone is doing well, and I enjoy reading your blogs every day. :) Take care and happy stitching! :)

Rageface is done.

I have to admit this was a hilarious cross stitch to work on, and I am very pleased with how it turned out. I hope my friend in NZ likes it. :)

28 count evenweave in white. DMC colours.

So much to do.

So little time! I have 4 WIPs going on right now and I feel overwhelmed by the darn things, so I'm giving the ol' heroic effort into finishing. I forgot to take a picture of Letter S on Saturday, but I did get some more done on it while I was at my clients.

Follow Me has been getting so more attention, as seen by the wings being done at this point. :)

I also went and started Rageface before I totally forgot that I promised him to a friend. I started him, a couple nights ago I think? I've been working on him exclusively all day. Days off are wonderful.

This was me earlier working on it

Emma on the Left, Weezi in the middle, and Koneko is where you can't see him - behind my head. It was super warm and comfortable til I had to get up to use the bathroom. :)

Hope everyone has a great week! :)

Letter S

Back to the swing of things with Letter S! I think she will be done in a couple more Saturdays. :)

I may or may not have a gripe. What is with all the patriotic patterns? Especially patriotic patterns that are in a series. I think that is super ignorant to all the stitchers out there who don't live in the U.S.A. I was looking at the Cottage Series and surprise surprise, July is Patriotic. So I guess Canadians and Aussies and New Zealanders and well, pretty much everywhere else that's not AMERICA will have to change the colours and the flag. Does it even come with conversions for other countries, or even another house designed for the rest of us non-Americans?

I don't mind the patriotic patterns that are one offs. But this is a series and people making them should probably have something a little more country neutral. Anyone who has a TV and access to the internet should be well aware at this point that there is more to the world out there than just the country we live in. Designers should think about that.

Reading over that, it sounds a lot more snarky than intended, but I'm leaving it the way it is. :D

I have been working on Follow Me throughout the week, and I'm actually hoping that I run out of the Belle Soie thread I'm using so I have an excuse to order more.. and order some of the things on my 123 wishlist at the same time haha. :) 

I think that is it for now :)

Winner Winner!

I had Weezi pick a winner today. It took a few tosses to get him to pick one and bring it back to me (he likes to fetch!) but he did it! Grats Sarah, you can email me your snail mail and I'll get that out to you ASAP (before you decide to move somewhere else!). My email should be active on blogger, but if not just leave a message here and I'll get back to you. :)

Took me forever to get him to look at the camera (aka my hand with treats in it!)

What I kept!

Here are the few things I kept from the For the Gatos pack, and even then I'm not sure I'll ever get around to making them lol. They might be in the next giveaway. :)

From Ink Circles:

 I like the little ones in this, of course the cats.

The last bit is fabric from Picture this Plus I believe? But I don't know the count. The colour is a nice blue. It's enough for a small project. I was also sent a bunch of buttons and beads, plus a couple Crescent Colours that are limited edition. There was a bat button in there that has given me an idea to use it on a halloween design for a friend of mine. She loves halloween so much!

Tonight I'm hoping to get an hour of stitching in at Milsean Cafe between clients. I don't know what project to take along with me. I have a choice between Summer Spendor or Follow Me.

I didn't get much done last night at my 4 hour visit :( Their little dog is really old and confused which lead to a lot of whining. I felt bad for her and there was no consoling her. by the time she fell asleep there was really no time left to do anything as the lighting was bad at that point. I got her dress filled it at least.

I'll do my winner winner chicken dinner draw soon. I'm going to write names down on little papers and let my cats decide. :D My cats DO take bribes, FYI. :)

It arrived!

My bad taste in patterns is your good fortune! I have a few things from the package to give away and it's open to you, my friends. All like, 7 of you who comment on my posts that I rarely post and how I rarely comment on your stuff even though I read everything because I am lame like that... whew.

Now that I got that out of my system, on with the giveaway!

This has all the Crescent Colours with it! Not my style and I don't bake, unless you count gluten free cakes from a BOX as baking. That's about the extent of my baking these days, and it's not even for myself, I help a client of mine bake cakes lol.

This BBD is apparently OOP, so here is your chance to win it and eBay it!

I already have this needleminder (and really. how could I call myself a Crazy Cat Lady if I didn't.) so this is up for you guys as well in the giveaway. Stop using your real cats to hold your needles and let this one do it for you! Less vet bills that way.

On with the fine print: ALL of this can be yours! I'll mail anywhere in the world, but keep in mind I'm a complete and utter failure when it comes to actually leaving the house with the package to mail on the same day. I either have the package and don't want to go out, or I go out and forget the package. It will be sent, just.. might take me a week or so when the stars align and the planets are in sync.

Have a great Caturday!