An Ending and a Beginning

I haven't posted in over a month and at the moment I have no desire to go back and do the necessary catch-up posts.  As today is the last day of 2019, I'm going to say that what's done is done and over with (the ending).

I'd like to thank all those who have commented on and/or read my blog this past year of ups and downs.  I have made new friends and learned a lot from you.  I've enjoyed reading your blogs too, even though I may not have commented on all of them.

Tomorrow is New Years Day, the first day of 2020  (the beginning) which I hope turns out to be a much better year for stitching, blogging and life in general. 

Of course, I couldn't leave you without a couple of pictures that have made me smile.

My son-in-law works at Home Goods and part of his job is to deliver items to a customer's car. I hope this customer had a really big car!  (Devin is on the left.) 

 We stayed at Great Wolf Lodge a couple of weeks ago and had breakfast in the Loose Moose Cafe.

I hope everyone has a Happy and Prosperous New Year!!!

2019 Advent Blog Hop - Day 10

Jo at Serendipitous Stitching has created another fun Blog Hop for us.  This time it's an Advent Calendar and I'm Day 10.

I had trouble choosing which Christmas stitch I wanted to share this year, but finally decided on this one since my first choice already showed up on Katie's blog for Day 2.

It's from the 2018 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue and is by Leslie Teare.  It is stitched on gold dusted 14-count Aida.  I changed all the colors; it was originally done in red and white on blue fabric, but this reminds me more of Christmas.

As for my favorite Christmas movie, I don't have one.  We rarely watch movies and I don't think I've seen a Christmas movie in years.  However, I was given tickets to the Nutcracker Ballet on Saturday and really enjoyed it, so I think I'll call that my favorite for now.

Happy Dance - Wooden Heart

Started: 10/18/2019

Finished 10//31/2019

This is a Cross Stitch Style kit that I got from Hobby Lobby.  It was stitched as charted with the materials in the kit, except that I used two strands of floss instead of the three called for.  Since I had trouble with the thickness of two strands, I think three would have been even more difficult.

I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet.  It's supposed to be a pendant, but I may use it as a Christmas ornament.

For some reason, I actually enjoy stitching on wood and am looking forward to stitching some more of the Christmas wood kits from Jo-Ann's if they sell them again this year.

**********************************************

I know I've been missing from Blogland for awhile now.  I haven't been stitching much and have been too busy and/or lazy to post other happenings.  I don't think the busyness will let up any time soon, but I am stitching again.  Yay!

Happy Dance - Festive Kitten

Started: 9/17/2019

Finished: 9/19/2019

This was a free chart from a World of Cross Stitching magazine, but I don't know which issue.  I believe it was part of a booklet called Festive Friends.

It's stitched on Silver Dusted 14-count Aida as charted except for the backstitching which is the partial stitch kind and was modified to use mostly whole stitches.  I also changed all the colors as it was charted for the provided Madeira threads in red and green that I no longer had.  The scarf and lettering were done with Etoile threads 816 and 699.  The square is much brighter in person.

This has already been sent to Q4OC to be made into a Christmas Ornament and used for a fundraiser for a no-kill animal sanctuary.

End of Rotation - Fox Magic Doll

It took me over two weeks to get in 10 hours on the Fox Magic Doll that I'm stitching for Q40C, but I finally did it. 

As of 6/15/2019

 

The color is truer in the first picture.  This is being stitched on white 14-count Aida with the called for DMC.  The backstitch has been modified some, because it's the fussy kind that uses partial stitches. 

It will be going to Q4OC for Love Quilts Brazil when completed.

Next Project in Rotation: Patchwork Teddy Bear (part of an Amanda Gregory nursery design)

Goal: 10 hours

Happy Dance - Black Cat - No It's not for Halloween

Started: 9/4/2019

Finished: 9/16/2019

This is a Christmas ornament that I stitched for Jeneen, the owner of Quilts for Older Children and Adults Facebook group.  She had hurt her wrist and asked for a volunteer to stitch it for her.  It's going to a No-Kill Animal Shelter for a fundraiser. 

She sent me the chart and the only information on it was 2017 Axebe. It's stitched on 14-count gold dusted Aida as charted with the called for DMC threads.  It's much brighter in person.

I've finally got the hang of timing my stitching and it took approximately 12 1/2 hours to stitch, most of it using black floss.  Although it took almost two weeks, I didn't stitch on it everyday--life keeps getting in the way of my stitching!

Happy Dance - All American Santa

Started in 2019: 8/19/2019

Finished: 9/3/2019

This is All American Santa, a kit from Charlotte's Collectibles.  I used all the called for materials and it's stitched on 14-count white plastic canvas with DMC floss.

This was a UFO, but I don't remember when I started it.  It was on my list of UFO's to finish this year though.   This is where I left it the last time I worked on it.

 Unfortunately, I think the reason I stopped stitching on was because it needed some frogging.  Once I completed the frogging, it looked like this.

If you remember my last happy dance post, I said my next project would be a birthday present.  Unfortunately, it was not fun, took away my stitching mojo and is still not complete.  I decided to move on to something else.  Hopefully, I'll still get it done in time for Christmas.

Next Project: Black Cat Christmas Ornament

Goal: Finish

I'm also going back to stitching on both a large and small project each day.  The goal for the smaller project will probably be a finish, but the goal for the larger project will most likely be a number of hours.

Next Large Project: Magic Doll - Fox

Goal: 5 hours

 . 

They Grow So Fast

Back in June, I posted pictures of our new kitten.  Here are two of them.  He was about eight or nine
weeks old in these pictures
.

He fits very well in the space where I keep the floss for my current project.  Last night I took another picture.  He doesn't fit so well now, but he still likes to cuddle there.  He's now almost six months old.

He also loves plastic for some reason and loves to play with the trash bags I'm keeping my giveaways in.  Sometimes he curls up and falls asleep on them and sometimes he likes to investigate what's in them and sometimes he even pulls stuff out to play with.

He also does something that I've never seen a cat do before--he plays fetch.  He will bring me something to toss for him and keep bringing it back over and over.  I usually wear out before he does.

Girl Scout Bronze Award

First, I want to apologize for not posting in almost a month.  First of all, I hardly stitched anything during the month of August and had no additional finishes.  I also went into another funk which kept me from doing much of anything.  I'm better now and stitching again so there will be some posting going on.

Now, onto the reason for this post.  My granddaughter just completed her last year of Junior Girl Scouts and my daughter is the leader.

The highest award a Junior can earn is the Bronze Award which is earned as a troop and is meant to meet a need of some kind.  The girls decided to create quiet books out of felt and give them to the church so that they could be used by the younger children who didn't want to go into the nursery. 

On Sunday, they presented six of the books to the church and the church posted the following pictures on the church Facebook site.

 

The Facebook post included the following:

"Thank you to Girl Scout troop 4082 for presenting to the children's ministry handmade Quiet Books the girls made. The books will be stored in the nursery on a book tree. Young children can borrow the books and use them while sitting in church with their families. This project earned the girls the Bronze Award, which is the highest award that a Girl Scout Junior can achieve. Congratulations girls and thanks for the gift!"

Here are some examples of the pages they did.  Everything is tethered so that the pieces won't get lost while in the church.

 

 

The books were put in canvas bags and can be checked out in the nursery.

After the presentation, the girls met to have refreshments and receive their bronze awards in front of their families and a few friends.

 

 

Kyleigh's cousins were visiting from Oregon and were able to attend the presentation with Kyleigh's dad and other grandparents before heading home.

And finally, just because this is probably the last time she'll wear her vest, here's a look at the back.  You can sort of see the front in the picture above.  She's been a busy girl and had a lot of fun the past two years as a Junior and will be continuing as a Cadette this year.

.

Happy Dance - August Palko Lap

Started: 8/1/2019

Finished: 8/5/2019

This is a free SAL from several years ago on her blog which can be found at http://palkolap.blogspot.com/2019/07/1220-idojaras-das-wetter.html

 

It's stitched on 25-count ivory Lugana as charted with DMC Coloris floss #4521which reminds me of sunflowers.

It took approximately eight hours to stitch over five days.  It should have been faster, but there was a lot of frogging involved.

Next Up: A Birthday Present
Goal: Finish

Happy Dance - July Owl

Started: 7/27/2019

Finished: 8/1/2019

This is the July edition of Leslie Teare's free Owl SAL on Facebook.  It's stitched on Lite Oatmeal 14-count Aida with the called for threads.  The only change I made was to do the backstitching in 3799 instead of 310.  Oh, and the border was supposed to be stitched in 666.  I also believe that there is at least one unintentional customization, but it's minor and I didn't notice it until I was doing the border.

This will be donated to WOCS with the other owls, hopefully by the end of the year.  I'm very proud of myself for keeping up with this SAL.

Next Up: Palko Lap - August
Goal: Finish

Smalls SAL - July

It's time again for the Smalls SAL hosted by Mary at Mary's Thread This is where we share the small projects we've stitched during the previous month. Click the link to see what other stitchers are sharing this month.  I'm a little late this month.  Fridays are always busy, but this time the weekend was too.

Everything I stitched this month qualifies as a small and you've already seen them all before, but here goes.

Fabulous Watermelon - Cross Stitch Crazy #192 (Jenny Barton)

Flip Flops -Lucie Heaton (Free Chart)

June Owl - Leslie Teare (Free Facebook SAL)

July - Palko Lap (Free Chart on Blog)

Tree Shopping - Mill Hill Winter Holiday Collection

Happy Dance - Tree Shopping

Started: 7/17/2019

Finished: 7/26/2019

This is Tree Shopping from Mill Hill's most recent Holiday Collection.  I used the materials in the kit, but made two changes: 1) I used two strands of floss for the cross stitch and I filled in the empty areas around the white stitches at the top.  

It seemed to take a lot longer than usual to stitch and I'm not sure why, except that I actually followed the direction and did the stitching first and beading last; usually I bead as I go.  Also, all of the beads were in one bag and I had trouble distinguishing between the black and green and the gray and white at first.

It came with a magnet, but I made a hanger for it instead.   I still need to attach the hanger and add the backing, but once that's done it will be added to my drawer of Christmas ornaments to go on the tree this Christmas.

Next Up: July Owl

Goal: A Finish

Happy Dance - Flip Flops

Started: 7/15/2019

Finished: 7/17/2019

This is is free chart from Lucie Heaton; I received it in her newsletter sent last Friday.  

It's stitched on white 14-count Aida.  I made one intentional change in that I removed two columns from between the two flip flops because they looked to be too far apart to me.

I also made an unintentional change in the floss used.  I read the color chart wrong and used 444 for the background, but it was supposed to be used for the shading.  I chose to use 725 for the shading instead of the 727 called for, because 727 was a lighter shade.

This project is for Kyleigh's quilt.  I chose this because she wears flip flops a lot.  She saw the chart and said she used to have a pair just like this.

Next Up:  Tree Shopping (Mill Hill)

Goal: Finish

Happy Dance - July Palko Lap

Started: 7/13/2019

Finished: 7/15/2019

This is a free SAL from several years ago on her blog which can be found at http://palkolap.blogspot.com/2019/07/1220-idojaras-das-wetter.html

 

It's stitched on white 25-count Lugana as charted with DMC Coloris floss #4512.  Now I'm wishing I'd used white for all the squares and just changed the floss color.  Too late now though!

 

I really enjoyed this one and it went fairly fast.  It was fun to watch the bottom motifs appear.

 

Next Up: Flip Flops (a free design from Lucie Heaton for Kyleigh's quilt.

Goal: Finish

 

 

 

Gifted Gorgeousness - July

Gifted Gorgeousness is a SAL run by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching  For this SAL, we post anything that was received as a gift or is being stitched for a gift.  You can click on the link to see what others are giving or have received.

The only gift I stitched this month was the June Owl from Leslie Teare's Facebook SAL.

But I finally used my gift certificate from Rachel on a couple of the new Mill Hill Kits. 

I also received a Hinzeit Mermaid chart from Astrid to make for Kyleigh.

Thank you both for your thoughtfulness and generosity.

Kitten Antics

We had a feral cat give birth to kittens in our backyard the end of March, but we didn't discover them until they were about eight weeks old.  We were able to trap two of them before the mother disappeared with the other two.  Kyleigh desperately wanted one so she got the first one we trapped and named it Tony.
We kept the second one and after some deliberation, I named it Taz.  Both kittens are identical in color. 

 

 

He likes to be close to one of us most of the time.  When it's David, usually in the evenings, Taz curls up on David's chest and they both take a nap. 

When he's with me, if he's not helping me cook, fold clothes, clean his litter box or do any of those other pesky little chores, he's usually cuddled up near me, but not necessarily on me. 

 

He's curled up like this last picture right now except that his head is on the corner of laptop and he's sound asleep.

We've always had cats, but when the last one died several years ago, we decided not to get another one.  This one just kind of happened, but we're both happy and he's going to be our first indoor cat so hopefully, he'll be able to stick around longer.