IHSW December

This weekend was the ISHW for December. I stitched on Mermaids of the Deep Blue as this was also the Mira sal days on my Love 4 Stitchalongs forum. I got some time in on Friday & on Saturday. I am hoping to be all finished with the one fin after my next rotation on her.

On Sunday we went to a friend's house for a Christmas party. It was a great time & I didn't want to leave. Thank goodness the week ended so much better than it started! Now onto PR's Winter Fairy Spirit.

What a Week

Last Sunday water started dripping into the fridge from the freezer above it. So Hubby & I went down to HH Gregg & looked at what they had. (Mom has a card with them that she said we could use, we just pay it off. Thank you Mom!) We figured out we could get a side by side & a separate freezer chest for less than getting a french door unit. Had them delivered on Tuesday.
On Monday morning I found an unauthorized charge from walmart.com pending in the checking account. So I went to the bank to talk to them. They were very nice to work with as they had someone else have the same issue a couple of weeks earlier. Unfortunately it took Walmart the whole week to remove it. I had no access to my account until then. Now I have to deal with all the bills that got sent back, but all the NSF fees have been reversed.
Monday evening my left breast started hurting & I had a dark brown discharge coming out of my nipple. So I made an appointment with my doctor for Thursday (figuring the bank stuff would be clear by then).
Weekend was a little better. Little Paul went on a hike with his boy scout troop while Hubby, Maria, my Mom & I saw the Adventures of Tin Tin. (A co-worker of Hubby's gave him screener passes.) On Sunday we went to Barnes & Noble where Maria (for her drama class) performed poetry. Afterwards we finished putting up the outside lights, put up the Christmas tree & made some fudge.
Hubby's collar bone sits slightly wrong & the bone rubs against the rotater cuff. About 8 years ago it sheared the right one in half & he had to have surgery for it. While He thinks the left side went Sunday night. (The specialist said it would.) So he has been in tremendous pain. He stayed home from work Monday so he could go see his doctor. Now we are waiting for an appointment for an MRI.
Today I had an ultrasound & mammogram. The good news is that there are no lumps visible, which means the discharge is from an infection. Now I need to wait for the results from the swap test.

Meanwhile in cross stitching I finished the rest of the first half of part 3 in Holland. I was going to wait to bead but I was weak & had to add it.


I have decided to fill in the empty spots on a couple of wings on my rr. I am going to stitch Magnolia in my star.

I am going to be a bad girl

& it's all Jo's (@Polstitches) fault! I was all set to not buy anything this month so we had more money for vacation the last week of December. But Jo had to go & make me be bad by posting this:

Mountain Mist, this month's Limited Edition piece. I am getting the opal linen. Now, I just need to try & be stronger & not order anything else. (Which is really hard with Laura's new chart coming out.)

Opinions Wanted

On my Love4SALs forum. I would like to have a year long finishing sal.

Post on forum:
I have been thinking about having a year long finishing sal. Each month is a different finish. We can post progress pics, links to websites on that month's finishes, directions,etc. Examples would be like:
January~ flat fold
February~ scissor fob
March~ pin cushion
April~ pillow
May~ fabric framing
June~
July~
August~ jewelry box
September~needle book
October~ biscornu
November~ ornament
December~ (maybe an exchange?)

What do you ladies think? ideas?

Feel free to post here or on the forum: http://love4stitching.yuku.com/topic/122/Opinions-please#.TtUG2lZzrbx or to join us.

Thanks so much!

Just In Time

We got the Dining Room done Wednesday night (almost)! After we put everything back together I decided to put curtains over the french doors. So on Tuesday I ran out to Lowe's to get another set of curtains & holdbacks. However when I got home I realized I grabbed the wrong holdbacks so I need to get the right set. Besides that, it's all done. Paul's room is all done & Maria's need some touch up paint where the tape pulled some paint off.

View from the Living Room.

View from the Kitchen.

Started Laying

flooring that is. Hubby started putting down the hardwood floor in the Dining Room last night. (Maria & I helped.) I also followed behind him cleaning up the adhesive. Here is how it looks so far. (The paint can is for a low spot in the sub-flooring.)

Close up of the wood:

IHSW November

Yipeee! Yep it's that time again! Everyone grab your needles this weekend & Hermit! I will be working on my part of Sophia's RR. If I finish that then I will be working on MotDB. I'm not sure how much stitching I will be able to get though as next Monday is mine & Hubby's anniversary so I'm not positive of weekend plans. Hope everyone can join me & relax before the holidays get too hectic. If you do want to join click on the hermit on the side bar to sign up. --->

Catch Up

I have been so busy trying to get all the reno done before Thanksgiving that I've been bad in posting my pictures. Okay, I've been bad about stitching as well. But I am getting more stitching in as we get more rooms done.

I'll start with Holland Landscapes. I was really bad with this one as it took me the whole 5 day sal to finish one corner. I want to finish the other 2 corners next month. Then I can move on to the next part in 2012. Here is where I am at so far:


Close up of the corner:

Last week I did get some stitching in on Sophia's piece in the Mira 2011 RR. This is the last one I stitch on before I get my piece back! This is the bottom of Christmas Elegance. She has a lot of bling! I can't wait to see the pics when she is all done! (I'm thinking of adding her to my wish list.)

Winter Fairy Spirit Progress

I put WFS away yesterday & pulled out Holland. I finished the bottom left side of the tree branch. I decided to replace the stitched snowflakes with white beads. Here she is as I put her away.

I created a new blog for my finishes. http://stitchingsweetiefinishes.blogspot.com/

Progress on Maria's Room

We are in the middle of switching the kids' rooms. Paul's room is too hot for him & Maria's is too cold, so the swap. First came remodeling the alcove for the full size waterbed that Hubby got for her to fit.Then we painted the walls. Maria found these curtains she really liked which gave us the idea for the walls.
These are all colors in her curtains. It was so much fun to splatter the paint on the walls, & they look really cool! These are her hand prints in the closet with all the colors we used.

This is the alcove for the bed. The area that is taped off we are going to make into a dry erase board.

Today we are painting the doors & trim. We are also hanging her curtains. I think this is a room she will like now & into high school. Tomorrow I'm hoping to start prepping Paul's room.

Is it really Sunday?

Another long week. (Are there any other kind?) Still fighting off this sinus infection. I was the party coordinator for Maria's class Halloween party. So I had phone calls to make to get everything organized. A couple of field trips I helped with this week. On top of that we are switching the kids' rooms. (I'll post pics when they're done.) As promised, here are the picture of the DR curtains.

Maria put up some spider webs for Halloween. I got these webs that glow in the dark under a black light. She did such a great job putting them up.

For Trick or Treat Paul went as A Dementor from Harry Potter. Maria went a zombie pirate. A friend of Maria's went as Alice zombie. (I still have to dl the pics.) Hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend!

Winner!!!

The name drawn for my scissor fob give away was Veronica! I want to thank every one for participating & for reading my blog.
(Veronica, I sent you an e-mail.)

IHSW & Weekend Activities

Another full weekend! I made 2 charts for friend's houses for Christmas. I was hoping to get them both stitched this weekend. I got the first almost all finished when Hubby & both agreed that we didn't like the look of the floss so I frogged it & am restitching it in a different color.

The black is the new color. The red, white & blue is a silk I had from HDF. It just didn't look how I wanted. I am now planning on all black with flames on the side.

I'm putting it up for a few days though so I can stitch on my mermaids for the Mira sal on Love 4 Stitch-a-longs.

On to more personal events. On Saturday we went to the local Harley store so Hubby could look around & see if he wanted anything with his gc he got last week for his birthday. He got a light up fuel gauge for his bike. (Now we have to get the matching fuel cap though.) I also got treated as I found a 3/4's helmet on clearance. I can now replace my full helmet as it would get to heavy & hurt my neck on longer rides.

From there we went to Lowe's to get replacement gutters. Of course we made some detours while at the store. I got our new drapes & rods for the DR. I want to get the room finished! Maria also picked out new curtains & rods for her room as well.

On Sunday we went to St V's for there open house as this is were Jr wants to go to HS next year. It was a very nice time & our tour guide (Hannah; JR) did a very good job. Jr really liked it so fingers crossed for his placement test on Nov 5th. Then we went to the JC Penney outlet so we could get Jr a coat for this winter. (For some reason the one we bought last year doesn't fit. Couldn't have anything to do with the 8" he grew this year.) I also wanted to get Maria a pair of snow boots but they didn't have anything. However Hubby did find a new sweater.

My first give away

In celebration of Halloween I have decided to have a give away. I am going to give away Black Cat, a scissor fob that I just made. The cat charm is made with Swarovski crystals.



If you would like to be entered just leave a comment below. I will close this & draw the winner on Oct. 21st. I will chose the winner as fairly as possible, or in other words, my 10 yo daughter will draw a name.

I am also adding more of my scissor fobs to Etsy. Please check out my page http://www.etsy.com/people/mgrutz1998 and let me know what you think.

Thanks for looking!

IHSW Oct

This weekend is the International Hermit Stitcher's Weekend. We don't have much planned this weekend so I'm hoping to get a lot of stitching time in. Please join us! http://joysze.blogspot.com/2011/10/ihsw-october.html

Mira RR

Just finished Villa Mirabilia for Andie's rr.

Her whole piece:
I spent yesterday weeding the front yard & planting some tulip bulbs for next spring.

Pictures!!!

As promised here is my progress on Villa.

The colors in her a really vibrant. I was so excited on Saturday. My fabby arrived!!! I ordered a piece from Sunny Fabrics. I had never ordered from them before but the piece of Deep Pool is gooorgeous!!! Here is the piece of fabby:

This is my floss toss for JE's Water Goddess. I still need to grab 4 floss & the beads.

Weekly Wrap Up

Sorry it's been a bit since my last post, it has been quite a week. On Monday Hubby took the day off of work to work on his car. It was pulling to the right & Hubby wasn't sure how much work he had to do on it. This weather has been beating me up so after I got home from taking the kids to school I went back to bed. While I was sleeping Hubby took the tires off of the right side of the car. The back tire's wall had burst which was the problem. We ran out & got a new tire. After Hubby got the tire on the car he wanted to take his car to Lowe's to pick up so supplies to start getting the house ready for winter. Then we had to get Maria from school. As soon as she got to the car it started pouring down rain. On the way home the belt slips off so we got stuck for a half an hour while Hubby gets the belt back on.

Tuesday was a gorgeous day! Thank goodness as Maria grade spent the day at camp. Little Paul spent the day at St V's high school. He got to spend the day "shadowing" a freshman around seeing what high school was like. He loved it, it was all he talked about the rest of the day.

On Wednesday my Mom went with me to the store to help me get a better idea of what products, colors & budget I need/like for the bathroom. Here is the sink we like for the bathroom.

Thursday I was busy around the house. I scrubbed the walls down so I could get the mud off from the dogs. Finally got the kids clothes down stairs so I washed a few loads of clothes.

Today Maria has rehearsal after school so I have a couple of extra hours before I have to leave. This weather is still messing with me. I have had a sore throat & my ears have been ringing for over a week now. Last night I got the sniffles. All of this wouldn't be too bad except I have been really tired. I seem to have very little energy.

Now onto stitching. I have been working on Villa Mirabilia. I should be so much further along on her but it seems I have forgotten how to count & to add. The square is 50 x 50 stitches. When I figured out where I wanted to stitch I traced a 50 x 51 square. ugh! So when I stitched the hand I was off one square. I took me a bit to figure out what was wrong. I decided to just rip the stitches out & restitch the hand. Then I had more issues counting & had to restitch the hand 3 more times before it was right. So frustrating. I will post a picture of my progress on Monday.

Lastly is my goals for October:
1. Finish my Villa Mirabilia for the Mira RR
2. Make & stitch 2 charts for Christmas Presents.
3. Stitch on sal's as possible.

IHSW & Progress

Sorry this is late it's been crazy busy here. I did get some stitching in on Friday. On Saturday my FIL showed up to take the kids golfing so we left earlier to head down to Columbus for a friend's birthday. My Mom was watching the kids so we could just stay the night & come back in the morning. On Sunday we watched the Brown's game & I got some more stitching in. However later in the evening we realized that we had left some stuff down there & our friends vacuum had quit working so we had told them the could have our extra one. Since I had to go back down Monday to get our stuff I brought that down with me. Mom picked up the kids from school for me so I didn't have to race back up here & could relax & take my time. Unfortunately Hubby sinuses have been going nuts so he came home early from work so I spent some time taking care of him & didn't get any stitching in on Monday.
On Tuesday I spent most of the morning catching up on laundry & other chores around the house. I also had to take care of this weeks bills. So Tuesday really felt like a Monday to me. I did get some stitching in in the afternoon waiting for Maria to get out of school. After Hubby got home from work we ran out to the store. We got a new tv stand so now all the cords aren't visible! Woo hoo!


Today starts the beginning of the PR sal so now it's time to say goodbye to MotDB :( but on the up side WFS has been pulled out! So this is how MotDB looks until next time:

Update On My RR

Annette has finished the next pixie for my piece on the Mira RR 2011. She picked Poppy & did a terrific job! I can't wait to get this piece back!
Here is Annette's part:


The whole piece:
(Sorry about the pic being upside down, I don't know why it's doing that & am trying to fix it.)

Decisions, decisions & IHSW

This weekend is Joyce's IHSW. Stop over at her blog & sign up to join us! http://joysze.blogspot.com/2011/09/ihsw-september.html I am hoping to get some time in on Sunday but will be out of town Saturday for a birthday party.

Now my big decision! Do I keep stitching on MotDB for the weekend or do go ahead & switch to Villa Miribilia for Andie's piece on the Mira RR?

My Start on MotDB

I started Mira's Mermaids of the Deep Blue last week after I finished Stargazer. I am stitching her on Polstitches Stormy Seas 28ct opal linen.

My floss toss:

Progress so far:

I received Andie's piece for the Mira RR 2011. I have decided to stitch Villa Mirabilia on it. Now I have to go gather my supplies so I can start her this week.

Stargazer Is Finished!!

I put the last bead on last night! Woo hoo!
She is stitched on Silkweaver's Periwinkle Pizazz, 32ct opal lugana.


Here are some close ups.
The stars:


Beading around her head:


Bottom of skirt:

PR Sal Progress

I have just put WF away until next month's sal. I did reach my goal on her for this month so happy dance! Yeah!

Next month is finishing up the blue & then beading the section.

WIPocalypse

I have decided to join in on Measi's WIPocalypse. Please come over & join us! http://measi.net/measiblog/2011/08/28/4814/

Here are the rules for the 2012 Wipocalypse:

1) To sign up, leave a comment on Measi's page with your blog address. International bloggers are welcome.

2) Sometime shortly before the start of 2012, make a list of the projects you will be focusing on. Add to and adjust this list throughout the year as you desire. There are no restrictions regarding new starts for this SAL. If you feel the desire to start a piece in 2012, add it to your list!

3) On each full moon (or thereabouts), post your progress photos to your site – even if your progress was slower than you hoped. Label that post with “WIPocalypse” to make it easy for Measi to find.

4) Once you’ve posted, come over to her blog and find her full moon post, and comment that you’ve updated. I will create a check-in list of URLs each month for easy blog surfing so fellow participants and readers can cheer you on.

Full moon dates for 2012:
January 9
February 7
March 8
April 6
May 5
June 4
July 3
August 1
August 31
September 29
October 29
November 28
December 28

My projects:

1. Winter Fairy Spirit
2. House of Shadow
3. Casa de Cowboy
4. Undine
5. Holland
6. Boo Club
7. Believe In Your Dreams
8. Hubby's Wolf (1)
9. Mermaids of the Deep Blue
10. Water Goddess
11. Trick or Treat (PR)
12. Flat Fold Finished!
13. Imagine Finished!
14. Hubby's Wolf (2)
15. Spring Tree Fairy
16. Hope
17. Believe
18. Cat Portrait
19. Full Moon Silhouette
20. Cat's Night Out
21. Window Cat
22. Snowy Owl
23. Mystical Dragon
24. TW's Dragon Fob
25. 
    

Is the weekend over yet???

OMG! What a weekend! Hubby had to work from home this weekend as a deadline is fast approaching. Saturday morning he spent outside working on his laptop on conference calls. (I stitched on Winter Spirit Fairy for the PR sal.) That afternoon we went to my nephew's 17th birthday party. When we got home that night we only had power to half the house. During our search trying to find out what was wrong we discovered that a tree in the backyard had come down & the only thing holding it up was the electrical lines. So that made for a long night as the power company was here until 3 in the morning fixing everything.
On Sunday we spent the day taking down the rest of the tree & cutting everything up. Then we had to run to a couple of stores for some more supplies. I am so glad the weekend is over! I did get some more stitching in Sunday evening, though.

Mira RR HD!

Just put the last bead into Moonlight Lullaby. This is my part for Susan's piece.
Here is my part:


Here is Susan's whole piece:

OMG!!! What a package!

I received my August EF Secret Package today. My SS was Andie & she is awesome!

She sent me Nora's Holly & Mystic by Polstitches. She also sent me a postcard, a button & pencils from New Zealand. They are already on my "International Shelf" with all the items I have received from different countries. Thanks Andie! You are the best!

IHSW

I'm late in posting but I did get an hour in on Sunday.

I'll post a more in depth post tomorrow. Been a busy week so far!

IHSW ~ August

I have signed up for the International Hermit Stitch Weekend. Hopefully I'll get a change to participate as we have a busy weekend scheduled. On Saturday the whole family is going to Columbus for a birthday party. On Sunday, Jr has tryouts for the spring travel team. If you would like to join us visit Joyce blog at http://joysze.blogspot.com/2011/08/ihsw-august.html & sign up!

25 Project Challenge

Andie is starting a 25 Project Challenge & I have decided to join her. I have tweaked the exceptions just a little to allow for purchases needed to finish a project.

My rules:
No purchasing of stash until after my 25 projects are completed

My exceptions:
Stash needed to complete a chart
Anything needed for the Mira RR
Presents for friends

The Project list:

1. Stargazer finished!
2. Winter Fairy Spirit
3. House of Shadow
4. Casa de Cowboy
5. Undine
6. Holland
7. Boo Club
8. Believe In Your Dreams
9. Hubby's Wolf (1)
10. Mermaids of the Deep Blue
11. Water Goddess
12. Trick or Treat
13. Imagine finished!
14. Hubby's Wolf (2)
15. Spring Tree Fairy
16. Hope
17. TW's Dragon Fob
18. Believe
19. Cat Portrait
20. Full Moon Silhouette
21. Cat's Night Out
22. Window Cat
23. Snowy Owl
24. Mystical Dragon
25.

(More to follow) ;D

Weekly Update

Sorry that I'm a day late. Yesterday we took the kiddos to Cedar Point. I am so sore today. Good news my new Ott Lite came yesterday! Yeah! My old one broke when we were moving. It's black so it's matches the other lamps in the living room. I found it on ebay for $54.00 from Ken's Sewing. He ships for free & has reasonable prices. It was new in the box.

Here is my progress so far on Moonlight Lullaby for Susan's piece of the Mira RR 2011.
Thanks so much for looking.

Gasp! Thud!

I saw this this morning & almost dropped my laptop! Elizabeth by Mirabilia! Top of the wishlist, she is definitely a must have!I will upload my progress pic tomorrow as I'm continuing on Moonlight Lullaby for the Mira Sal on Love 4 Stitching yuku board which starts tomorrow.

I think I've Lost My Mind!!!!

I need to stop reading other's post! I just bought an HAED! I must of flipped. I bought a QS; Nene Thomas' (I LOVE her artwork!) Frost Moon.

Now I have to wait for them to e-mail me the pdf so I can go get my floss.

Stitch Alongs

Stitch Alongs!

Do you like stitch alongs? I do! Andie has been helping me restarted my stitch along board and we are getting different stitch alongs set up! Please come over, have a look and say Hi :D If there is a stitch along you would like to see started just let me know and I will get it set up for you! At the moment there are sal's set up for PR's, Mirabilia, Chatelaine, Joan Elliot and Dark Side of the Moon.

Love for Stitch Alongs Forum

Thanks so much for looking!

Hugs
Mel

Weekly Update (8/8/11)

I have gotten a lot done on Stargazer! I am having a blast stitching on her! Part of me doesn't want to put her done but I have to start & finish my piece for the Mira RR.


It was a nice week last week. I pulled the wallpaper down in the stairwell to the basement. I got the holes puttied & sanded & the first layer primer up. Little Paul turned 13 on Friday. We had a family party for the family birthday's in August (& my sister's that was the end of July.)

August Goals & SG progress

I met all of my goals for July!!! For August my goals are:
1. Start & finish the next Midnight Lullaby for the Mira RR.
2. Finish the next section of beading for SG.
3. Finish the bottom of the skirt on WFS during the PR sal weekend.

I did get to stitch on SG for a couple of days last week after finishing July's part for the Mira RR.
Before:

After:

July's Secret Stitcher

I just received an e-mail from Cindy at ECS. My SS got me Peacock Garden by Chatelaine! I am in 7th heaven right now!!!

For those who might not know the pattern I am adding a pic:

The pic is of Dianne's finished project on the Chatelaine Yuku boards.