WIP Wednesday

 I currently have one focus piece that I complete a 10x10 block on each day and then move on to a smaller piece.  This way I'm having frequent happy dances, but also working on some of my larger pieces as well.  I'm hoping to do a WIP Wednesday post to show the progress on my focus piece.

This week's focus piece is Santa's Secret a Gold Petite kit from Dimensions.  It's stitched as charted with the materials in the kit except for several unintentional customizations and thread substitutions when I ran out of the kit thread.  All of the cross stitching is done and it's ready to start the backstitching, but I'm taking a short break and will start the backstitch on Friday.

This was my Christmas present to myself last year and I'm stitching it for the Dimensions Kit SAL so it needs to be completed by 12/31/17.

November Happy Dances

Gingerbread Couple

Started: 11/3/2017

Finished: 11/6/2017

This is from the Challenge Lucie section of a Cross Stitch Crazy magazine, but I don't know which issue.   It's stitched as charted with DMC threads on 14-count Fiddler's Lite Aida.  

I love gingerbread anything, but I'm very picky about the shape of gingerbread people.  These meant with my approval so I'm stitching them again on white 14-count Aida, but I'm changing the bow tie to bright green and the dress to bright red. I haven't decided whether I'm going to finish this one as an ornament or a card yet. 

Dream Catcher

 Started: 11/6/2017

Finished: 11/10/2017

This is from Cross Stitch Crazy #214.  It was designed by Durene Jones and was part of the 50 Native American Gift Ideas article.  It's stitched as charted with four colors of DMC on white 14-count Aida.

It's another square for Kyleigh's quilt.  I almost have enough squares now, but I'm changing the theme to be a memory/favorite things quilt so several of the squares I made will be going for other things and there are a few more squares I want to make.

Cozy Penguin Couple

 Started: 11/12/2017

Finished: 11/27/2017

This was also from the Challenge Lucie section of a Cross Stitch Crazy magazine, but I don't know which issue.   

It's stitched with DMC threads on 14-count Fiddler's Lite Aida.   I changed the colors of both scarves since one was supposed to be black and white and the other claret and light blue.  I really do like my colors better.  I haven't decided how to finish this one either.  I'm trying to decide between a card and an ornament.

I've now finished 41 projects this year, most of which were small, but I've also worked on a couple of larger ones.

 

More October Finishes

Started: 10/9/2017

Finished: 10/11/2017

This was in a Enjoy Cross Stitch at Christmas magazine.  It was stitched and finished using the free materials included.  The only change I made was to substitute green floss for the yellow floss called for by the chart as it didn't seem very Christmas-y.  Kyleigh has taken a liking to this ornament so it will probably be one of her Christmas gifts this year.

Started: 10/12/2017

Finished: 10/13/2017

This was part of the Challenge Lucie section of Cross Stitch Crazy #225.  It's stitched as called for with DMC on 14-count white Aida.  I've since found the same girl on a seahorse which I'd also like to stitch.

This is for Kyleigh's quilt because she likes mermaids and dolphins.

Started: 10/14/17

Finished: 10/17/2017

Started: 10/17/2017

Finished: 10/20/2017

These two hearts were the free cover kit from an older Cross Stitch Crazy magazine. They're stitched as charted (and finished) with the materials in the kit.  I did have to use some DMC from my stash as I ran out of two of the colors.  Fortunately, they matched exactly.  I also had to use my own 14-count Aida for the second heart since the pre-cut heart included in the kit was too small.

I made them into Christmas ornaments, but they probably won't be going on my tree.  I took these and several other pieces to a boutique at our church.  These didn't sell, but three others did.

Started: 10/20/2017

Finished: 10/28/2017

This Kokeshi Doll card was the free cover kit for the March 2013 Cross Stitcher magazine.  It's stitched as charted and also finished with the materials in the kit.

This one also went to the Christmas boutique, but didn't sell.

Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box Packing Event

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything and I have a lot of catching up to do, but I decided to start posting with current events and finishes instead of continually putting it off to do the catch-up posts first.

Last night was the Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box Packing event at our church/school.  This is an annual event that has replaced having the students each pack their own boxes.  It starts with a spaghetti dinner and ends with the blessing of the boxes in the bus.  The goal was 1,000 boxes.

There was organized chaos as usual.  The little girl with the braid in the gray shirt is Kyleigh.

 After picking up a Boy or Girl box and deciding on an age range, you filled the box with school supplies, toiletries, age appropriate toys and/or stuffed animals.  The little girl with Kyleigh is a friend of hers.  They packed together the entire evening.

Once the box was packed to your satisfaction, you wrote a note to the recipient, put it in the box, marked the age range and then put a rubber band around the box to keep it closed.  They had papers with various messages you could copy or you could make up your own.

At this point you could take a picture commemorating the evening before you took the box to be loaded onto the bus (I forgot to take a picture of the bus.) 

As the evening continued, people started packing more than one box at a time.  This was our last time through where we did two boxes each.  Between the three of us, we packed 15 boxes.