Christmas in July

There it is!! My first small. I have not decided what I will finish it as, but I feel great that Christmas 2007 will at least have a handmade decoration.

Cool, snowy stitches.......

Stitching update

After spending a few hours reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I continued stitching on "Provence Sampler". So far, I think I may have about 5% completed. My progress consists of stitching half of the top row and the top A, B, C, D, and P letters. It is coming along very well.

Time to count the stitches....

In less than an hour and a half.....

I, along with countless other Harry Potter fans, will acquire and start to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It's a very exciting time!! Maybe after reading it and finishing Provence Sampler I may stitch a Harry Potter sampler.

About to read and stitch......

A New WIP

Finally, the decision to start "Provence Sampler", c. by Butternut Road, was reached. Now, it's a WIP. I managed to choose 32ct Wedgewood Lugana as my fabric and one of the DMC blue Variation threads in place of the colors used on the model. Prior to starting I basted my fabric so it would not unravel. That, folks, is the extent of my sewing ability. My hope is that my hands will made speedy work of this artwork. Since I do not rotate projects, I need for it to go fast.

As I stitch, I am thinking of Christmas and the need to choose an awesome Christmas pattern for 2007.

Stitchin' and thinkin'........

Another small finish

Today I completed a Christmas Heart from June 2007's edition of The Cross Stitcher magazine. It is a cute chart and I will use it as a Christmas ornament. I will start thinking of how to "finish" it for then.

One stitch at a time.....brings my smalls total to 2 and my medium total to one.

Happy Fourth of July

Wishing all my friends a HAPPY FOURTH! Stay safe!! Most of all ENJOY!!!!!!

Goals, Goals and more Goals

Do I have them? Of course not! Yet, I feel I must not wander through my stash unfocused. Today's purchase of the three stash items gave me the incentive to hunt for the 10/25/50 Stitcher's Challenge and I found it here. Now that I have read it and understand it a bit better I have to think about it. For now, I can honestly say that I don't think I would survive to 25 let alone 50 so let me venture onto 10 projects to start.

These days I am focused on samplers and blogging. Yes, it has not gone unnoticed by me that I have blogged more in the first three days of July than ever. I really enjoy blogging and writing in hopes that you are stopping by and reading my adventures.

As I type the thought strikes me that I am not looking to decrease my stash, but to increase the amount completed projects each year. Last year was bad... zero. This year has been better ... one. Did I see you laugh? I am laughing too!

What I think I will do first is go through a few of my stash items and post the ten cross stitch projects I wish to complete this year. As I stitch them, I will add them to my completed project list. Right now that is my best plan.

Stitching dreams....

"Resistance is Futile"

Today I found out about a LNS that opened a few weeks ago near me. Since I live in "LNS barrenland", I had to go and see what was going on.

I must say that there is a certain magic when you can actually see and touch needlework items that you are interested in purchasing. So as I looked and searched the Borg's famous mantra rang through my head, "Resistance is futile... resistance is futile." What was I to do???? What any addicted needleworker would do SHOP!!!!

I purchased 3 charts. First, Bent Creek's "Wedding Row", then Twisted Threads' "To Laugh", and Mill Hill's "Haunted Halloween". All in all I was a good needleworker and supported my LNS. Now, to stitch these awesome finds....

Happy counting!!!

What is going on with me?

This is my third post in two days. I must be doing something right :-)

I finally decided what my new WIP will be ... tah dah ... a couple of Holiday smalls from the June 2007 issue of The Cross Stitcher Magazine. My goal is to stitch the Christmas Tree and the Christmas Heart. Let's see how I do.

On the left side of my blog, I have started a Completed Works list. With time I hope to learn the blog program so I may have a stunnning blog that will show off lots of my hard work.

Happy Fourth to all!

Can you believe it???

I am posting twice in one day lol :-)) Oh well, I am trying to catch up.

A few minutes ago I decided on what my next project will be. For the next few days I will be stitching "smalls". My thought is that if I do a few small things then my motivation will improve for the bigger projects.

If you are like me, you read blogs by other stitchers. An item that I have seen in a few is the stitcher's challenge where they set up a number of projects that they will stitch out of their stash before going to purchase more. Well, that is the idea that I have taken from the blogs.

Thinking in that way, I will search my stash and pick out some items that I will stitch prior to purchasing more stash. That is going to be very hard. There are a few items that I am really interested in buying and I purchase magazines for my collections. As you know, there are times that if one doesn't buy the magazine on the newstand when it is there, the odds are that it will be sold out and not even on eBay when you want to buy it.

So, I will put a lot of thought into this and see if I am going to go "on the wagon" completely, or if I am going to ride a few stops.

Stitching the night away.....

My first 2007 XS finish!!!

There it is centerstage! I am so excited that it is finished!! It took a bit more time than I thought it would, but it was worth every minute. The heart design is by a wonderful French designer, Isa Vautier.

Now, I am off to figure out what to stitch next. Believe me, it is not like I have nothing to stitch. There are stacks and stacks of magazines with rows upon rows of books waiting to be seen. Then there are the charts and booklets that have gone unnoticed for years. I must go through all the wonderful older designs for I find that the older designs are especially beautiful. When I go through the my stash, it feels as if I am going shopping .... but cheaper....lol.

It is a wonderful feeling to start the second part of 2007 with my first finish.

Wishing you beautiful stitches!!