WIP Wednesday - 11/28/2018

Contrary to the past few weeks/months, I got quite a bit of stitching done this past week.  I had four finishes and worked on another Advent Animal. This time it's #15, Rascal Racoon, which was started for the Maynia SAL on the Stitch Maynia Facebook page.

As of 5/8/2018

As of 11/27/2018

I just realized that weird looking thing between the cookie jar and the racoon is my needle.  Oops!

Happy Dance - Snowman

Started: 11/23/2018

Finished: 11/27/2018

This is the last of the Maker's Holiday Crafts wooden ornament made for the Jo-Ann Stores that I'm doing at the moment, although I do have one more that I plan to stitch for myself later. 

Again, this is stitched as charted with the materials in the kit except that I used two strands, but it called for three.  I tried adding a mouth, but I didn't like it any better than without the mouth so that got frogged.

This is for my granddaughter, Kyleigh.  She saw me stitching the stocking and asked to let her do one, too.  I had her start using three strands as called for, but I didn't like the way it looked, so after she left, I ripped it out and started over with two strands.  Since she's now discovered diamond painting, I don't think she'll mind too much.

Happy Dance - Truck with Tree

Started: 11/23/2018

Finished: 11/25/2018

This is another of the Maker's Holiday Crafts wooden ornament made for the Jo-Ann Stores. Again, this is stitched as charted with the materials in the kit except that I used two strands, but it called for three.

This will my son-in-law's Christmas ornament this year.

Gingerbread Houses

The Friday after Thanksgiving, Janice and Kyleigh went to Amorita's to make gingerbread houses.  They paired up:  Janice with Dena (Amorita's daughter) and Amorita with Kyleigh.  I'm not really sure which gingerbread house is which, because I pulled the pictures from Facebook, but I know they had fun!

 

 

 

 

Happy Dance - Stocking

Started 11/22/2018

Finished: 11/23/2018

This is a Maker's Holiday Craft made for the Jo-Ann Stores.   We have a new Jo-Ann's nearby and Janice, Kyleigh and I went to check it out during the grand opening.   Janice saw this and asked me to make it for her for Christmas.  Since it was deeply discounted, I said "yes" and bought ones for Devin and Kyleigh, too.  (Kyleigh started the one for her, but has since moved on to Diamond Painting so I plan to finish it for her.)  

It's stitched on the wood cut-out with the floss provided.  I used two strands, but it called for three.  Also, there was no color key so I had to go by the colored picture.   I'm still not sure I chose the right colors, but it does look like the picture.

A Thanksgiving Finish

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving (a day late) to all who celebrate it.  We went to my daughter's for breakfast and lunch/dinner.  Breakfast, because I cook the turkey at her home and it had to get in the oven early.  David makes what he calls a farmer's omelet and that's what we had for breakfast.

After putting the turkey in the oven and eating breakfast, I pulled out my stitching.  I usually take a couple of things to stitch and most often only work on one.  This time, I only took one thing and wished I'd taken more since I finished it before the turkey was done.

Started: 11/4/2018

Finished: 11/22/2018

This little cutie is by Durene Jones and was part of the free kit that came with this year's Enjoy Cross Stitch at Christmas magazine.  Instead of using the fabric provided, it's stitched on 14-count plastic canvas with the threads included in the kit.

Because I used plastic canvas, I had to change some of the backstitching and change the eyes to cross stitches, because I couldn't do 1/2 stitch backstitching.  I also accidentally used full crosses for the background instead of the half crosses called for, but when I realized it, it was too late to do any frogging.  I don't think it detracts from the design though.

I'm not sure if it will go on my tree or not; it may be a gift or be held for next year's boutique at our church.

Diamond Dotz and a Get Together

Janice had asked me for a diamond painting kit for Christmas, but decided to get a small one first to see if she liked it.  She made a rose (no picture unfortunately) and did enjoy it.  She also picked up the same kit for me.  Kyleigh decided she wanted to do one, so Janice let her do the butterfly that came in her kit.

 

 

I took Kyleigh with me to the Southern California Stitchers' Get Together at a local Panera Bread the next morning.  She had her snowman with her, but decided to work on a Diamond Dotz Sunflower from my kit.  She had a good time and was actually a really good girl, focusing on her project and participating in conversations.  She's been invited to go again.  Of course, we only stayed a couple of hours, including eating lunch.

WIP Wednesday - 11/21/2018

This is a short WIP report, because the previous post was a Happy Dance.  Besides the finish,  I also worked on the Gingerbread Man and I'm now very close to a finish of it as well.

As of 11/14/2018

As of 11/21/2018

Happy Dance - Cassie Cow

Started: 5/4/2018

Finished: 11/20/2018

This is the 14th animal in the Animal Advent series from Brooke's Books.  It's stitched on misty blue 14-count Aida as charted (except that I used two strands when it called for three) with the called for DMC floss.  This one went much easier and faster than #13 since I did very little frogging.

Here is the whole piece to date.

Happy Dance - Colin Cardinal

Started: 5/4/2018

Finished: 11/15/2018

This is Colin Cardinal, the 13th square in the Advent Animal Series by Brooke's Books.  It's stitched on 14-count Misty Blue Aida with the called for DMC floss.  It has a couple of unintentional customizations and I used two strands where the chart called for three.  

BTW, these animals are free charts available at Advent Animals.

WIP Wednesday - 11/14/2018

I didn't get a lot of stitching this week, partly because the frog visited several times and partly because of a lack of time.  I think this is the first time I've posted the same projects two weeks in a row for something as small as these are.   I am almost finished (finally) with my current Advent Animal.

As of 11/6/2018

As of 11/13/2018

My small project didn't fare so well and only got my attention a couple of times, but I did make a little progress.  Hopefully, I'll have much more progress this coming week.

As of 11/6/2018

As of 11/13/2018

Receiving the My Promise, My Faith pin

Janice and her friend, Amorita are co-leaders of two different Girl Scout Troops, one of second grade Brownies and one of fifth grade Juniors.  Last month, the two troops participated in an activity, both individually at a troop meeting and as a group at a Service Unit Meeting.  This earned them the My Promise, My Faith pin to wear on their uniforms.  To make it extra special, the pins were awarded by the pastors during the mid-morning church service on November 11th.

The whole group of girls who participated

Kyleigh receiving her pin

The girls and their co-leaders

Giveaway Winner - Miranda

There were five people who asked to be in the drawing for my extra Miranda Mill Hill kit and the winner is Astrid of Astrid's Dragon.  Astrid - please send me your snail mail address and I'll mail the kit out on Tuesday.

Fall Craft Night

On November 8th, the Women's Ministry at our church held a craft night as they do periodically.  There was a pizza and salad dinner, but the main activity was gluing succulents to uncut pumpkins.  Janice, Kyleigh and I as well as Janice's friend, Amorita participated.

Kyleigh did two tiny pumpkins, I did a small one and Janice did two large ones, one of which was for Amorita.

 

 

 

 

 

There was also an area set up for kids, so that the adults could work undisturbed.  Kyleigh and her friend made a volcano.

And finally, the finished pumpkins.  The one on the left is Amorita's pumpkin, which Janice also made.

All five pumpkins

My pumpkin

WIP Wednesday - 11/7/2018

It's Wednesday again and this week went by really fast.  I've started stitching two projects an evening again--one small in a hoop or hand and a larger one on my Q-snaps.  I've also done a lot of frogging this week, but I have made progress.

The large project continues to be Brooke's Books Advent Animals where I'm working on number 13, Colin Cardinal.  I had all of the DMC 300 in the birdhouse complete, but the sides didn't match up so I had to put the cardinal and leaves in to figure out my mistake and then frog the top part of the birdhouse.

As of 5/4/18

As of 11/6/18

My small project was a new start.  This is a free chart designed by Durene Jones for the Enjoy Cross Stitch at Christmas 2018 magazine.  It will be a gingerbread man when completed.  Because it's fully stitched, I'm doing it on plastic canvas and will make it into an ornament when completed.

This also required some frogging.  I started in the middle and made a mistake that I couldn't find so decided to start over.  There's also a mistake tin the above picture which will have to be fixed tonight before I move on.

Happy Dance - Miranda

Started: 10/2/2018

Finished: 11/2/2018

This is the third project in the Hocus Pocus Trilogy from Mill Hill.  It's stitched as charted with the materials in the kit.  The only change I made was to use two strands of floss instead of three since I like the coverage and being able to use the loop start.

The other two projects are Mimi and Muriel, which were finished last year.

Mimi

Muriel

 

Because I lost the instructions (and never did find them), I had to order a new kit and I'm offering it as a giveaway.  It's a complete kit as I used the instructions only.  

Please comment on this blog entry only.  If more than one person wants it, I will draw a name on Sunday, 11/10.

October Recap

I didn't do a lot of stitching in October; there were three days when I didn't stitch at all and I only stitched on one project each day, but I did stitch on six projects including starting two and finishing four.

My finishes:

 

Witchy Jack - 10/1/2018

Fabulous Lemon - 10/17/2018

Fitzwilliam Frog - 10/22/2018

Sophie Squirrel - 10/31/2018

Fabulous Lemon was both started and finished in October, but I added one new WIP (started, but not finished):

Miranda - started 10/2/2018

As of the end of October, I've had a total of 36 finishes for the year.  Also, as of the end of October, I've started, but not yet finished, 16 projects this year.  Of these, 13 are the Advent Animals that were started in May.  My goal is to finish as many of these as possible before the end of the year. 

Someday, I'll have to count the total number of WIPs I've started over the years and try to bring the total down to a manageable number.  In the meantime, I'm just trying not to add to the total.

Father/Daughter Dance

I've decided that waiting to post our activities until the end of the month isn't working, so I'm going to try posting them as they happen. 

November 1st was the annual Father/Daughter Dance at Kyleigh's school.  It's put on by POM and both the girls and their moms/grandmas help out.  There is a picture frame craft, candy corsages for sale, dinner and pictures.  Dancing is also available.  I sold corsages and Janice helped with the frame making craft.  The theme of the dance was  "I Love You to the Moon and Back".

Kyleigh dancing with her dad

Kyleigh

Kyleigh and her mom

Kyleigh and her dad