Happy Dance - Let's Learn From Our Cat

Started: 12/25/2019

Finished: 2/28/2020

Stitching Time: 43 hours, 42 minutes

This is Let's Learn From Our Cat by Ursula Michael.  It's stitched on light blue 14-count Aida, but I changed all the colors to be more compatible with my granddaughter's room.  I attempted to do this as charted, but ran into several problems and made quite a few mistakes. 

The biggest mistake I made was not centering it vertically on the correct center line.  I took some of the fabric left on the bottom and added it to the top.  Because I made several mistakes in the big cat, I was left with about 4 squares at the top which I hope will be enough for framing.

Because of this, I wasn't able to stitch the words: Lessons From Our Cats in the big cat.  At the suggestion of a couple of people, I charted the cats' names instead.

This will be a birthday present for my granddaughter who will turn 12 at the end of this month.

WIPacolypse - February

This SAL was originally meant to help stitchers finish all their WIPs before the end of the world and has turned into a SAL where most users share their stitching and goals for the previous month.  You can find more information and check out other stitchers' posts at Measi's Blog.

 In my introduction post, I set some goals for this year:

1) Stitch Deer Scene from Dimensions - I haven't started it yet, but need to start it before March 15th..

2)  Finish Let's Learn From Our Cat by Ursula Michael - DONE

 

3) Finish Big Trees - I haven't worked on it yet.

4) Finish Advent Animals by Brooke's Books - I haven't worked on this yet, but plan to stitch #19 in March.

5) Finish Tinkerbell - I haven't worked on it yet.

6) Finish Leslie Teare's 2019 Owl SAL.  The August Owl is finished.

 

7) Complete the Peppermint Purple Year Long SAL on Facebook.  So far, so good!

 

8) Complete the 2020 Stitcher's Challenge on Q4OC (Quilts for Older Children and Adults).  I haven't started any of these squares yet.
 

In addition to these, I'll be stitching smaller pieces for Christmas ornaments, Charity Quilts and Kyleigh's quilt which still needs a few more squares.

Ladybird K for Kyleigh's Quilt

Furry Tales Valentine Mouse for WOCS

Father Christmas for my tree

Christmas Bullfinch for the JCS SAL on Facebook (in progress)

Question of the Month: In honor of “Leap Year,” tell the story of a time you had to make some sort of a “leap” in stitching – taking the chance on a new style of stitching, attending a meetup or class, etc.

This month I messed up the centering on  Let's Learn From Our Cat and took a leap of faith that I'd be able to finish it with enough left at the top for framing.  I also charted the names of the cats and it's the first time, I've done this so that's my leap in cross stitch.

Smalls SAL - February

It's the last Friday in February so it's time for participating in the Smalls SAL which is hosted by Mary at Mary's Thread.  For this SAL, we post the small projects we've stitched during the month.  Some people stitch a project just for this SAL and others stitch a monthly design.  Since I stitch a lot of smalls, I just post the ones I've stitched during the month. If you'd like to know more about the SAL and see what other stitchers are posting, click on the above link.

I stitched three projects that qualify this month. 

Ladybird Alphabet - Letter K (Lucy Heaton - Cross Stitch Crazy #265)

Furry Tales - Valentine Mouse (Lucie Heaton - World of Cross Stitching #238)

Father Christmas (Mill Hill)

Peppermint Purple SAL - Weeks 8 and 9

For some reason, I skipped posting week 8 of the SAL so here it is.  This time I used the darker parts of DMC #61. This was one of the easier blocks and only took 46 minutes to stitch.

This is week 9 of the SAL.  It's stitched with DMC 721 and is the first non-variation/non-variegated floss I've used. Besides being a double block, it was the hardest one I've done yet and it took 2 hours and 11 minutes to stitch.  I didn't notice the two missed stitches on the left side until after I'd taken the picture, so I'll fix them this week.

And here's the whole SAL so far:

Happy Dance - Father Christmas

Started: 2/18/2020

Finished: 2/23/2020

Stitching Time: 8 hours, 2 minutes

Father Christmas is one of the Mill Hill Charmed Santas kits.  It's stitched as charted with the enclosed materials, except that I left off the charm and only used two strands of floss for all of the stitching.

Hopefully, this will hang on my Christmas tree come December.

End of Rotation - Let's Learn from Our Cat & Peppermint Purple SAL - Week 7

As of 2/5/2020 after 30 hours

As of 2/17/2020 after 42 hours

 

I know I said that I was planning to finish Let's Learn from Our Cat in this rotation, but I had to change my plans.  About 3/4 of the way through, I realized that I hadn't centered it correctly.  In fact, I was way off!  By making several unintentional mistakes and some fudging on purpose, I managed to complete the project within the fabric I had (I removed some fabric from the bottom and added it to the top so I could continue to use my Q-snaps.)  However, I discovered that somehow I managed to lose several rows inside the cat at the top--I'm still not sure how that happened.

Right now I'm trying to decide if I should consider it done at this point or re-chart the words inside the cat to be closer together.  I'm pretty sure the recipient will be happy with it either way.  What do you think?  Should I leave it as is or add the words?

After removing this from the Q-snaps last night, I also managed to stitch Week 7 of the Peppermint Purple SAL.  This time I used DMC 52.  There were two options for this square, one with diagonal symmetry and one with horizontal and vertical symmetry like the previous squares.  I chose to do the one with diagonal symmetry. 

Gifted Gorgeousness - February

It's February 15th and time for this month's Gifted Gorgeousness post.  For this post, we show items that can be considered gifted, either to us or from us.  It's hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  Click the link for more information or to see what others have gifted this month.

I have several items to show you this month.  First is the August Owl from Leslie Teare's 2019 Facebook SAL. This will be going to WOCS (World of Charity Stitching) along with the rest of the owls to be made into a quilt, probably for a person in a Care Home.

Next is the letter K from the Ladybird Alphabet designed by Lucie Heaton and appearing in Cross Stitch Crazy #265.  I made this for my granddaughter's quilt, because she's always been fascinated by ladybugs.

Next is the Valentine Furry Tales Mouse, again designed by Lucie Heaton and appearing in World of Cross Stitching #238.  This will also be going to WOCS to be made into a quilt, along with the other monthly mice.

I made this Furry Tales Mouse back in 2016, originally for Kyleigh's quilt, but have decided to use it for this quilt instead, because it's perfect for March.  This is the St. Patrick's Day Mouse that was found in World of Cross Stitching #239.

I'm also still working on Ursula Michael's Lets Learn from Our Cat.  This is the most recent picture I have, but it's much further along now--I don't want to take it off the Q-Snaps just to take a photo.  It will be a gift for someone special when it's finished..

Finally, this is why I made the Ladybird letter for Kyleigh:

My Secret Stitching Sweetheart

Happy Valentines Day!

Which means it's time for another blog hop from Jo at Serendipitous Stitching.  This time we each received a valentine from a Secret Sweetheart.  Click the link to see all of the valentines.  Here's mine:

Are you my Secret Sweetheart?  Did you send me this lovely bag?  I hope to find out soon!

Night of Comfort and Service

Last night, the Women's Ministry at our church put on a Night of Comfort and Service.  It began with a potluck dinner with lots of good food and conversation. 

After dinner, everyone adjourned to the gym where there were several serving stations set up.  Kyleigh helped make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and later helped make sack lunches for a local food bank and a homeless shelter for families.

Janice helped pack snacks, also for the food bank and the homeless shelter and also helped pack lunches.

I helped cut out waterproof linings for sanitary pads that go to girls/women in underdeveloped countries.  They use these instead of disposable pads which are hard to come by.

There were also stations for rolling bandages using strips from old sheets and crocheting plastic bags into mats for the homeless.

Afterward, there was a short worship service focusing on prayer led by three students from Concordia University.   They'd also set up prayer stations so that you could write a prayer request on a 3x5 card and leave it in a bowl.  At the same time you were able to take someone else's prayer request and pray for it later.

 

Fully Finished Gallery - February

The Fully Finished Gallery SAL was created by Rachel at Ten Hour Stitcher to encourage us to fully finish our projects instead of just storing them in a drawer or box never to be seen again.  Click on the link to see more details and what other stitchers have posted.

My first fully finished ornament this month is St. Nicholas.  I've backed it with red felt and added a hanger of leftover green and gold beads.  The hanger is short since I ran out of leftover beads.  As I mentioned before, I know his hat is crooked, but I don't think it will matter once it's hanging on the tree.

My second fully finished ornament is Moose Joy from the 2019 JCS Ornament Issue.  I'd originally planned to make a pillow ornament using the same fabric for the backing, but when I was trimming the square to size, I didn't realize that I was counting from the wrong point and was left with only one square on the left side of the tree.   So, I cut the other sides down to one square, backed it with a white 3x5 card and then with red felt.  I added some cord from my stash as a hanger.

I also finished two ornaments from 2016. These were simple finishes as I glued them to felt that matched the color of their icing, trimmed around them with pinking shears and added complimentary ribbon.

I also have a question about finishing.  For those of you who finish your stitching with fabric, how do you do it?  Do you use a sewing machine or backstitch/running stitch around both the square and the backing?  Or some other way?  Thanks in advance, as I'd like to do this with some of my finishes.

Happy Dance - Valentine Mouse

Started: 2/6/2020

Finished: 2/9/2020

Stitching Time: 7 hours 28 minutes

Furry Tales are designed by Lucie Heaton and a different one appears each month in the World of Cross Stitching.  This one was in #238.

It's stitched on 14-count white Aida as charted with the called for DMC.

This is the mouse for February that I will send to WOCS to be made into a quilt when all the months are completed.  I'm currently looking for a suitable girl mouse to use for April.

Next Up: Let's Learn from Our Cat (Finish)

Peppermint Purple SAL - Week 6

The block for week 6 is stitched with DMC #75.  Since this is a double square, it took 1 hour 23 minutes to stitch over two evenings.

Here is the whole SAL:

End of Rotation - Let's Learn from Our Cat

This is Let's Learn From Our Cat from Ursula Michael after 30 hours.  It's stitched on light blue 14-count Aida, but I've changed all the colors.  The color is truer in the first picture which was scanned.  The second picture was taken with my phone since it no longer fits in my scanner.  I don't have too much left so I will probably finish it during the next rotation, even if it takes more than 10 hours.

As of 1/21/2020

As of 2/5/2020

Next Up: Furry Tales - Valentine Mouse (finish)

Happy Dance - Ladybug Alphabet - K

Started: 1/31/2020

Finished: 1/31/2020

Stitching Time: 2 hours 30 minutes

The Ladybug Alphabet was designed by Lucy Heaton and is in issue #265 of Cross Stitch Crazy.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to stitch it for Kyleigh's quilt since she's always been fascinated with ladybugs.

It's stitched on 14-count white Aida as charted with the called for colors and was a fairly easy stitch.

Next Up: Let's Learn from Our Cat (10 hours)

Special Friends Day

Every year on the last Friday in January as part of  Lutheran Schools Week, Kyleigh's school puts on an event called Special Friends Day where each student can bring an adult to school.  It can be a parent, grandparent, other relative or even just a good friend.  I went for her first one, back when she was in preschool (I think she was three.) and this year it was my turn to go again. 

In her classroom. she interviewed me about when I was in 6th grade and we did some review quizzes on her iPad.  We also attended chapel which was about the love of animals and how it was unconditional like God's love for us and saw a really cute video of animals demonstrating their love. 

They used the sets and leftover crafts from last year's VBS for taking pictures and some of the crafts.  We had our picture taken and then Kyleigh made a frame for it.  

 

 Kyleigh's friend and classmate, Grace didn't have a Special Friend with her so she joined Kyleigh and I for the morning.

There were several crafts available outside that involved beads, tiny rubber bands, etc.  Kyleigh and Grace chose to make bracelets out of the tiny rubber bands.

We used markers to color key chains in the Art Classroom. 

The one on the left is Kyleigh's.  She said it's the devil snake from Genesis.  Mine is on the right.  I was at a different table so it was just coincidence that we both chose the same animal.  They also had tigers, monkeys, etc.

Kyleigh and Grace are both wearing their POM uniforms because POM performed in the Quad at the end of the morning.

We both had a fun time and I saw a lot of people I knew. The mother of Kyleigh's "off and on" friend that is a boy also introduced herself to me.  (They're currently "on".)

Next year will be the last year Kyleigh can participate, because the 8th graders help with the games, crafts, etc.  and she's hoping to bring her grandpa who hasn't been yet.