Wipocalypse

 Here's my progress on everything I've been working on in August. (Picture heavy). 

I started the month stitching Holland. Before:

I finished the border. Next is the corner pieces.

Next I worked on Water Goddess.

Before:

 

I finished the next blue section on her dress.

Lastly is the PR Mystery piece. This is part 1, I am still working on part 2.

I'll post it when I finish.

WOW! It's been awhile!

I'm hoping things might start slowing down here but I'm not holding my breath. Baseball & softball have come to a close for the summer. This week is nuts. Tomorrow I'm taking Hubby's car in for an oil-change while he takes mine to work. Then I have to take Maria in for a dentist appointment for a check up. She has a molar cutting in & she thinks it's moving her spacer. Later that evening I have to go to the office for a meeting. On Wednesday I am taking my car in for an oil change. Later on my Mom is bringing over the pop-up so we can prep it for camping this weekend. (Woo hoo!) Then our friends are coming over for this week-ends D&D session (since no-one is going to be home over the weekend as the are going out of town as well). Nothing scheduled for Thursday morning, so I can do the mad laundry dash so we have everything we need to pack. Thursday evening Maria & I are going to the Racers (local professional softball team!) game.
Friday night the whole family is going to Stan Hywet (http://www.stanhywet.org/) to see Midsummer Night's Dream. Then Saturday morning Maria has her Commedia rehearsal from 9-11. Then we're leaving for Salt Fork to go camping for the weekend!

Speaking of the weekend it's IHSW. Hopefully I'll get some decent stitching time in while we're camping. Please sign up if you haven't yet. I'm working on Part 1 of the PR SAL. Laura has re-opened sign ups if you haven't signed up for that either. http://www.passionericamo.eu/ancora_una_volta.htm
I'll post pictures next week at which point I'll also tell you the fun scheduled for next week.

Happy Momma's Day!

Wishing all the Mommas out there an awesome Mother's Day! Hope you have a wonderful day! My daughter has a softball game today. Family is coming to watch. Planning on just stitching the rest of the day.

Petite Christmas Angel Pillow

Petite Christmas Angel
 by Joan Elliot
stitched on Polstitches Scratch N Sneeze
32ct opal linen
kreinik changed out for RG PTB

To start with I decided what size I want the visible design to be.

Then I decide how wide I want the trim. For this pillow I choose to have 

8" square around the Angel & that I wanted the purple strip to be 1" wide.

I use my rotatory blade to cut 4 strips that are 10" long (1" for both sides) &

2" wide. I then tri-fold the strips & iron them.

Next I sew 2 of the strips together, so I have 2 "L" shapes.

I then lay them over the cross stitch piece so the strips "frame"

the piece. Unfold the strip so the inside (the part that was ironed to lay underneath

closest to the cross stitch) is visible. Tack the strips to the cross stitch piece.

Next lay the other 2 strips the same way that you did with the first 2. Sew

the strips down along the inside of the first flap. After sewing, fold back over & iron again.

I then cut my second fabric into strips similar to the first fabric. (You need to

know what size pillow you are making for this step. I bought a 14x14 pillow 

form so my next set of strips had to big enough to cover the rest of the pillow.

Attach the second strips to the outside of the first strips. (I attached the lace in this step.)

After you have the front done attach it to the back piece. Make sure that you have the front 

sides of the fabric together & to leave the bottom open to go over the pillow.

When you are done sewing the 2 pieces together turn the piece right side out, making sure 

to push the corners out. (I use a pencil for this.) Pull the fabric over the pillow, turn the extra 

material into the pillow then pin it into place. Last is sewing the bottom together. All done!

Liebster Blog

Not only was I lucky enough to receive this award once but twice! Thank you so much ladies! It means so much to me that I have such wonderful stitching friends that care.

Leibster is a German word meaning favorite, dearest or beloved. The Leibster is awarded by bloggers to other new (and not so new) bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers., to help spread the word and help the new talented bloggers gain wider recognition. The Leibster award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy: Choose 5 up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers to award the Liebster to. Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them. Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites. Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award. Share 5 random facts about yourself that people don't know about you. I've been presented this award by the Maiden & Vani. Thank you! And without any further ado, my nominees are: Ana Terry Rahenna Mangogirl Jan Now the 5 random facts: I moved with my family to Texas when I was 3. We lived there for a few years before we moved back to Ohio. I had a really bad stutter when I was young. I was special speech classes until 7th grade. I started playing organized sports when I was 5. I continued playing sports year round until my knee surgery my senior year of high school when my doctor told me I couldn't return. I'm allergic to all types of grass. (The 2 years I lived across from a golf course were awful!) I'm an organization freak. Organizing & re-organizing stuff is one of my favorite pastimes. (But I hate re-organizing things cause others don't but stuff back!)(sorry, little vent.)

Winter Fairy Spirit Progress

I didn't post much last week. It ended up being a long week here. My depression flared up pretty bad & I ended up having a couple of panic attacks. Monday I got in to the doctor for a check up. Then on Tuesday I have an interview. I am hoping that getting a part time job & getting out of the house more might help my anxiety as right now it's really hard to leave the house by myself. I don't have any issues when I have to pick the kids up from school but that's it.

Well, now onto what you actually came here for. Last week I worked on PR's Winter Fairy Spirit. I am hoping to have her finished by August.

I'm stitching TW's Dragon Fob next for a birthday present. Thanks for looking.

January's IHSW Results

My weekend was it's usually busy self but I did get chances to stitch some through out the weekend.

Before:

After:

I have run out of the green kreinik & I'll have to order some more. I was hoping to get more done but I'll have to wait till next month as it's time for WFS. Now I'm off to go check other's progress!

Making My Flat Fold

Please be patient as this is my first instructional blog. I was a little worried about how difficult this would be so I put it off for 2 weeks. However it was much easier than I expected. Until I added on the additional decorations all I used was a glue stick. Sorry, getting ahead of myself.

My supplies:

finished pattern

2 5x7 sticky foam boards

glue stick

fabric (for this size piece a half yard should be plenty)

scissors

iron

hot glue gun

trim

any additional desired decorations

To start I needed to cut both boards in half so I had four pieces that were the same size. The easiest way for me was to use an utility knife & a ruler. I first lightly scored the line & then went over it a couple of times to get it even. I then cover the pieces with my pattern & the fabric. I used the sticky side for the main side & then used my glue stick to glue down the edges on the

back.

Next I used a piece of extra fabric to use for the bottom I folded it by thirds and then ironed it flat. I then used my glue stick to attach to the inside piece of 2 of the boards.

I also used another piece of the extra fabric (cut to the same width of the boards) to attach the same pieces together on the top of them. I also used the glue stick for this as well.

Then I glue the pattern & the last board to the other 2 boards. (I used the glue stick for the last fabric glue, but then my kitty decided the glue stick looked liked a great toy & knocked it off the table & it broke so I used my hot glue gun to glue the pattern to the last side.)

I then used my hot glue gun (just a one of the small low heat ones from the craft store) to attach the trim around the pattern where the 2 boards are attached.

I started at the upper right hand corner. I would put glue on a small section then pull the trim across that section. I continued this way until I arrived back at the right hand corner. I made a bow with the last bit of trim & glued it in the corner.

I then used the put little spots of glue on the left corner to add the bows with rhinestones that I found at the craft store when getting my trim. All done! This took me a little under an hour to complete.

Leap Year

I received my Better Homes & Gardens Magazine today. While I was looking through it I spotted this tiny article in the corner on one page & thought it was a great idea. It suggest that on Feb 29th writing down what you hope to accomplish over the next 4 years. Then place the list somewhere safe & revisit it on the next Feb 29th.

Imagine Flat Fold

I finished my flat fold this morning for the Finishes SAL on Love 4 SALs.

Next month is scissor fobs. I am stitching TW's Dragon Fob for it. Please come over & join us!

First IHSW of 2012 this weekend!

This weekend is the first IHSW for 2012! If you would like to join us please sign up at Random Ramblings.

Water Goddess SAL Progress

Yesterday was the end of the Water Goddess SAL for January in the Love4Stitch-a-longs. I did get some decent progress after I re-started her. She is stitching up so well right now I don't want to put her down. But it's all good cause up now is MotDB!

She is on Sunny Dyes 28ct opal lugana Deep Pool.

So frustrating!

I started Water Goddess yesterday. I decided to start with her bodice & work down. So I had to switch between 4 pages & I missed a stitch some where. I haven't been able to figure out where so I'm pulling out the bodice & starting over. This time I'll just work page by page & not switch until that page is done. So aggravating as I will now waste 2 days. ugh! On the up side, I love how she looks on the fabby! But I have to get used to stitching on opal lugana instead of linen.

WIPocalypse Imagine

My first post for 2012 & I have a HD! Sorry things have been a little quite. I caught a bug on the way home from Disney. Disney was a blast! The kids had a great time! (Pictures to follow soon.)

I finished Imagine by Joan Eilliot yesterday. (This was my trip project. However I didn't start it until the way home & then it laid untouched for 4 days until I started feeling better. All in all I stitched a total 4 days.) I am now planning on stitching Hope this year to give to my Mom for Christmas as she really liked that one when she was looking through my JE book. I am also going to do the black for Maria & the dragon for my son.

Here is my Imagine:

I am going to do a flat fold finish for the January sal on the Love 4 SAL forum.

A close up of the unicorn:

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: