Happy Dance - Ornaments

Started: 4/26/2016

Finished: 4/27/2016

Enjoy Cross Stitch at Christmas

This was stitched on a scrap of 25-count Lugana (I'm not sure of the color, but it's kind of an off-white) with DMC floss.  I made a couple of changes.  The square in the center of the purple ornament was supposed to be orange and the green in the ornaments themselves were a pale lime green that I didn't like so I used the same green that was used for the lights.

This is my April ornament for the Christmas Ornie SAL where the theme was ornaments.  Eventually, it will be sent to WOCS (World of Charity Stitching) for their Holiday Card Project.

WIWO - 4/25/2016

After finishing Pinky, I finally got to pay some attention to my monthly SALs.  The first one I chose to work on was the Pumpkin Passport.  So far, we've been to London, Paris and the Netherlands.

This month we went to Switzerland.  I'm still working on this one, but hope to finish it tomorrow.

I also continued stitching on my UFO for 1/2 hour a day.  I did find the error; I did two identical rows in her face, but it's now been fixed.  When I picked it up last Monday, she looked like this:

Today, she looks like this:

It's the free cover kit from Cross Stitch Crazy #211 stitched with the vinyl and threads included.  I did run out of blue and yellow, but fortunately, I was able to match them pretty closely.

Happy Dance - Pinky Bear

Started: 3/26/2016

Finished: 4/20/2016

Designer: Donna Giampa

Pinky is stitched on 25-count white Lugana with the called for DMC threads.  The only change I made was an accidental customization in that I used two strands for the background half stitches while the chart called for one strand.  (I need to read directions more carefully in the future.)  It doesn't match the painting, but I do like it this way.

I'm planning to stitch the companion piece, Blue Bear and frame them both to hang in my bedroom.

This is finish number 15 for this year.

WIWO - 4/18/2016

I had two finishes this week, but also continued stitching on Pinky and expect to finish her this week sometime. Last week:

This week:

And since I also finished my UFO this week, I've located the next one to be stitched 1/2 hour a day until finished.  I started this one in December and put it down because of a counting error that I couldn't easily find.  That will be the first thing I have to do this afternoon when I pick it up again.  It's the freebie that came with a recent Cross Stitch Crazy magazine.

Happy Dance - A Spot of Tea

Started: Somewhere around 2000

Added to Rotation: 3/20/2016

Finished: 4/17/2016

Cherished Teddies for All Occasions

This was stitched on 14-count white Aida with DMC floss.

I believe I started stitching it sometime in the late 1990's or early 2000's for AQP (Angel Quilt Project) using a chart provided by the designer.  I don't know what happened to the chart, but somewhere along the way, I replaced it with the chart from the Cherished Teddies for All Seasons booklet.  The colors on the finished square are different from  the chart in the booklet, namely the purples were done in salmon pinks in the book.  I also made several unintentional customizations to fix counting mistakes made in the earlier stitching.

This was the first project I picked up as part of my focus on finishing UFO's and WIP's by choosing to first one on my UFO/WIP spreadsheet and working on it for 1/2 hour a day until finished.  It's the second UFO Finish and the 14th overall finish for this year.  

I will be sending it to WOCS (World of Charity Stitching) for their Mixed Bag.  Hopefully, it can be made into a pillow or something.

Look What Came in the Mail Today

Last month I participated in the Easter Blog Hop hosted by Serendipitous Stitching where you hopped from blog to blog to solve a secret phrase.  I participated both as a letter poster and solver of the secret phrase.  Each poster and each person correctly solving the phrase received an entry in the drawing.  I participated in both and received two entries and I won!

Today I received an envelope with the chart (Lizzie Kate's Sampling Easter), the fabric to stitch it on and a card with a lovely note in it.  On the back of the card, it mentioned that this is Woodbridge Tide Mill, Suffolk not far from where she lives.

Thank you, Jo for the lovely package.  Since this is a traveling chart, I will be passing it on, once I've stitched it. 

Happy Dance - Duncan Dog

Started: 4/4/2016

Finished: 4/11/2016

Brooke's Books - Advent Animals

This is my April square for the Brooke's Books SAL on the Stitch Maynia Facebook group. 

It was stitched on 14-count Lt. Blue Aida with the called for DMC floss.  I did the border in two strands of floss instead of three, stitched the bone in 712 instead of white and did the backstitching on the waist in 310 instead of 164 (this was an unintentional customization on my part).  

As I've mentioned before almost all of the cross stitching was done at the Angels' games I attended.

WIWO - 4/11/2016

I went to three baseball games this past week and got most of the cross stitching on my fourth Advent Animal, Duncan Dog done while at the games.  I did cross stitch the snow at the bottom and do some of the backstitching yesterday afternoon while watching the game on TV.  It's not quite finished, but watch for a happy dance sometime this week.  I just have to do the backstitching on his hat and face.

And then there's Pinky.  I realized on Saturday that I should have been using one strand of floss for the background instead of two.  After twacking myself upside the head, I decided I liked it that way and since I'm using my own floss, I don't have to worry about running out so I'm leaving it.  Here she was last week:

And here she is today.

You can see the whole width and height now.  I'll continue working on her this week and see how close I can get to a finish.

Finally, I continued working on my UFO 1/2 hour a day.  She went from here:

 to here:

She's also getting really close to a finish.

At the Angels Home Opener

I may have mentioned before that I was going to the home opener at Angels Stadium last night and we did just that.  The Budweiser Clydesdales made their usual appearance outside the main gate.

 

 

 Kyleigh is sitting on a 3 foot high cement baseball in this picture.

These are really big horses.  We last saw them perform at the Equifest prior to the Rose Parade and in the Rose Parade itself, but weren't able to get anywhere near this close to them.

There were also the regular opening day festivities.  First the unfurling of the flag during the singing of the Star Spangled Banner. All of the pictures except my stitching were taken by my daughter.

Then the flyover by the C-17 Globemaster III, a huge cargo plane.

 

As usual, I stitched during the game itself; otherwise I tend to find baseball boring.  This time I brought Duncan Dog, my Advent Animal for this month.  I didn't get a lot done, because we left early.  It was a not-fun boring game which the Angels lost big time. 

School Pictures

Kyleigh brought her school pictures home today and I was very surprised to see the difference between the one Janice took this morning and the one taken at the school a few hours later.  They almost look like the pictures were either of two different girls.  Or that one was taken a year or so before the other.

WIWO - 4/4/2016

I only worked on two projects this week, but I made good progress on both.  First, I continued my 1/2 hour a day on A Spot of Tea and have almost finished the top part of the square--she just needs a little backstitching and a tie for her bonnet added.  Here she is as of last Monday:

And here she is this morning. 

 I also continued working on Pinky from Donna Giampa of Vermillion Stitchery.  I'm using 25-count white Lugana and DMC.  Here's where she was last Monday

And here she is as of this morning.  

I'm thinking of putting her away after I finish this column to work on my monthly SALs since she'll be 1/2 complete at that point, but I'm still going to try to finish her by the end of April.

Happy Birthday, Kyleigh!

My beautiful granddaughter turned 8 years old yesterday and we took her to the new Great Wolf Lodge in southern California to celebrate. 

Our room wasn't ready when we got there so we spent several hours in the Water Park.  We all enjoyed the wave pool and the lazy river and some of us explored Fort MacKenzie and went down some slides. 

When we got to our room, there was a sign on the door:

We had passed another room with the sign and Kyleigh started to get upset because she didn't think there was a sign on our door.  When we got inside, we spotted a cake,

and balloons.

There was also a birthday card and of course all the kids get wolf ears.  After dinner at a really delicious buffet which featured lamb (my favorite) at the carving station, we went back to the room to eat cake

and open presents.  Here's the finished clock I made for her:

and here is Kyleigh checking it out.

Later, Kyleigh joined the Crew Club and got to create a female wolf and go on a couple of quests.  I know she had a terrific birthday and I'm not sure we can top it next year.