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

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May Catch Up Post - Picture Heavy

My stitching plans and stitching and blogging mojo both flew out the window in mid-May.  The stitching plans have changed and the stitching mojo came back in July, but I've been trying to decide how to catch up.  I've finally decided just to do a monthly post or two rather than doing a weekly WIP and individual happy dance posts.

First the stitching:
I finished the May installment of the Pumpkin Passport which took us to Greece.

I restarted the Advent Animals on one piece of darker blue Aida.  I wasn't really happy with the way the white looked on the light blue fabric and a wall hanging made more sense to me than individual finishes.  I stitched #6 and #7 and then went back and stitched #1.  I've also stitched the number on #2.

 

I also finished the third Angelic Ornament (the praying angel).  This was my current UFO project, but it was set aside soon after the finish, because of frogging issues with the next angel.

The final finish for the month was an alphabet square for Quilts for Older Children and Adults as part of their 2016 Challenge.

Some miscellaneous pictures for the month:
Kyleigh found a hairstyle on Pinterest that she wanted Janice to try.

 

Janice worked from home one day and Bobby decided to help her by guarding the cable on her laptop and helping her find the right keys.

 

Kyleigh is now tall enough to go on all the rides at Disneyland and California Adventure, but there are certain rides she doesn't like.  This is what she does to show that she's not tall enough yet.

Bob is the good friend who shares his Angels season tickets with us.  He and Kyleigh have a lot of fun together. 

Kyleigh's 2nd grade class did a chapel in May and sang "I Want to be a Sheep".  The first picture is of some of the class leading the singing and the second is of most of the sheep sleeping while the shepherd is looking for one lost sheep.  Kyleigh is on the far right in the tan skirt.

 

Finally, Kyleigh's Brownie troop had their year-end party at one of the Brownie's grandparents' pool.  Yes, this pool is in their backyard.  That's Kyleigh sliding into the raft.

That's all for May.  Hopefully, I'll be back soon with June's update.

Happy Dance - Festive Rudolph

Started: 5/4/2016

Finished: 5/7/2016

World of Cross Stitching Magazine

This was the free cover kit from an older World of Cross Stitching Magazine.  The cover kit came with 14-count white Aida and the threads as well as a card.  I originally started it on the enclosed Aida, but  set it aside after stitching the top third so it was on my UFO list.

Since it matched the theme for May for the Christmas Ornie SAL, I decided it was time to finish it.   I restarted it on a scrap of 25-count off white Lugana (not sure of the color) and used all the enclosed thread except for the color of the reindeer itself for which I substituted DMC from my stash.

This will be going to WOCS (World of Charity Stitching) for their Holiday Card project along with last month's ornament, A Spot of Tea and my current project once it's finished.

Happy Dance - Angel Tree Ornament

Started: 12/8/2015

Finished: 5/4/2016

Cross Stitch Crazy #211

This was part of the free cover kit that came with the magazine. (There's also a Santa Claus that I'll stitch later.) 

I used the enclosed vinyl and threads, but ran out of three colors so I used DMC from my stash to finish.  If you look closely, you can see the difference, but since I'm planning to use this as a tree topper, I don't think anyone will notice.  Again, I didn't carefully read the instructions and realized after the fact, that I should have stitched the white with one strand.

I still need to make it into a cone and I'll post a picture of that when it's an FFO.

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.

Happy Birthday and Happy Dance (Twinkly Fairy)

First off, Happy Birthday to me!  I am 66 years old today and it's been a very quiet, gray, rainy day.  We celebrated on Monday with dinner at Red Lobster. Since Devin's birthday was on Sunday, we try to pick a day between the two birthdays.

Originally Started:  Unknown

Restarted: 1/3/2016

Finished: 1/6/2016

Cross Stitch Crazy (issue unknown)

 

This was stitched on white 14-count Aida with DMC floss.  The backstitching does not match the pattern much, especially around the hearts which I outlined with the same floss as the rest of the backstitching instead of following the chart which used two different colors and not only outlined the hearts, but had stitching on the interior of the hearts as well.

I had originally started this for Love Quilts a long time ago, but never finished it because the backstitching is very fiddly and I got frustrated with it. When Quilts for Older Children and Adults came up with the same theme, I decided to pull it out and see if I could finish it for them.

Happy Dance - Last Merry Kitten Ornament

Original Start Date: Unknown 

Current Start Date: 7/16/2015

Finished: 7/20/2015

Dimensions Kit: Merry Kitten Ornaments

It's stitched on 14-count white plastic canvas with the floss included in the kit.  There were six kittens in this kit and here are the rest of them:

 

 

Happy Dance - Merry Kitten #5

Original Start Date: Unknown 

Current Start Date: 7/12/2015

Finished: 7/16/2015

Dimensions Kit: Merry Kitten Ornaments

The kit is dated 1997 and I think I probably started it sometime around then.  There are six kittens included in this kit and I'd finished four of them (and started this one) before setting it aside.  

It's stitched on 14-count white plastic canvas with the floss included in the kit.

Update on David

We went to the Infectious Disease doctor yesterday and today I picked up another week's worth of intravenous antibiotics.  The infection is almost gone, but they want to be sure.

He goes back to work tomorrow for the first time since he entered the hospital though.