Happy Easter Snow Globe update #2

I am stitching this Happy Easter Snow Globe for World of Charity Stitching for a quilt with lots of other snow globes by Vee and Co Cross Stitch. After I finish the base, I will stitch the yellow bow on top and add some more snowflakes, and it will be finished!

All the Snow Globe patterns can be found here: http://veeandco.com/156614.html

Day #27 - So Many Tools

 

Day #27 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is So Many Tools, a kit I bought many years ago to make for my dad. I am sure he will love it!

I will have to postpone my new starts for Days #28 - #31 until I get back home.

Happy Stitching, everyone!

Day #25 - Christmas Cactus

 

Day #25 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Christmas Cactus, a free pattern I found online at www.il-mondo-di-ezechiele.com . I love this bright green color, DMC 704, Bright Chartreuse, on the 14 ct red Aida. I brought this small project with me to the hospital and was able to stitch on it while I was waiting my turn for the operating room. I thought I would stitch on it again after the surgery but that was just silly of me to think I could! I was much too tired! I'm feeling a little better every day now.
Happy Stitching, everyone!

Day #26 - Thankful Critters

Day #26 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Thankful Critters by Ursula Michael. I missed posting a pic of my Day #25 start, Christmas Cactus, because I was in the hospital having surgery. I thought I could keep up but I've been much too tired and sore! I am glad that I got most of this chipmunk done. Tomorrow I will do my Day #27 start and post more pictures. I am staying at my parents' house to recover, so I don't have my Friday SAL with me, Halloween House, and my Sunday SAL, Santa's 12 Days of Christmas. But when I go home next week, I will have a whole month off work, so I will be able to catch up with the UCJC and continue with Linda into the Super-Duper Ultimate Crazy February Challenge! Then we will have the rest of the year to finish all (or most of) these new WIPs. Happy Stitching, everyone!

Linda's Blogoversary Giveaway!

Linda is having a wonderful giveaway to celebrate her blogoversary. She will crochet a lapghan in the winner's favorite colors. There could be up to 4 winners if she gets lots of new followers. Enter here: http://bengalcatlover10.blogspot.com/2012/01/1-year-blogoverary-giveaway.html

Day #24 - Holiday Cheer

Day #24 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Holiday Cheer by Ursula Michael.  This chart is in the Cross Stitch & Needlework magazine, January 2012 issue.  I just started outlining the letter P.  I love the fun way that she designed the letters for this!  I also have a Thanksgiving one coming up by the same designer, and I still haven't finished the Halloween one, Trick or Treat, also by Ursula Michael.

Just one more week to go, then I will have 31 new starts to choose from.  I wonder which one will be my first finish!

Day #23 - Cut Thru' Pirate Ship

Day #23 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Cut Thru' Pirate Ship by Bothy Threads.  I was pretty pleased with my progress UNTIL I took it out of the Qsnaps and realized that I had the fabric turned the wrong way!  Aaaack!  The same thing happened to Ruth and I even commented on her blog that I would be careful not to make the same mistake, which is exactly what I did!  This mistake must be contagious, since I've been reading about it on blogs all over the place!  Boo hoo... I am not looking forward to ripping all these stitches out.  It's going to the bottom of my stitching pile for awhile.  Grrrrr!

On a more cheery note, here is my teeny-tiny progress on Santa's 12 Days of Christmas.  I stitched the brown wing of the Partridge in a Pear Tree.  This is a Sunday SAL with Linda and Kaye.

Day #22 - Universal Unity and TUSAL #1

Day #22 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Universal Unity, a kit from Dimensions Gold Collection.  I actually started this one in 1998 and stitched on it for 6 weeks, then I never touched it again until yesterday. You can see that I started on the gray squirrel next to the deer.  You can see a pic of what it will look like when it's finished on my UCJC 2012 page.

It's time for the first TUSAL with a pic of my new ORT dish for 2012!  I thought this star-shaped heavy glass dish was cuter than my jelly jar from last year.  This has all the floss bits from all my new starts in January.  I'll have to think of a more interesting place to take pics of it for next time!

Day #21 - Cackle

Day #21 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Cackle, from Raise the Roof Designs.  I am stitching it on 14 ct lavender Aida, so I think I will change the color of the moon to a pale yellow.  I bought this chart from the closeout sale at NeedleDelights.  She still has lots of patterns left!

Day #20 - Monkey Read, Monkey Do

Day #20 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is a bookmark called Monkey Read, Monkey Do.  I bought this pattern online from Funk & Weber Designs.  It will look like the Barrel of Monkeys toy with lots of bright colors.

Here is my little bit of progress on Halloween House on Friday.  I finished stitching the black witch in the doorway.

The reason that I didn't get a lot of stitching done was because I was gone all day on Friday at the J. Paul Getty Museum.  I saw lots of art including this amazing picture from 1390 (622 years old)!  The first thing I thought was how fun this would be to cross stitch!

Day #19 - Pac-Man

Day #19 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Pac-Man, an old chart from the 1980s by Millcraft.  I remember going to the video arcades when I was a kid and popping quarters in the Pac-Man game, but I liked Ms. Pac-Man better.  This will be a fun chart to stitch!

Day #18 - The Sorcerer

Day #18 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is The Sorcerer, a kit from Dimensions.  This is another leftover from the CJC 2011.  I had already stitched some of the gold and now I added some dark blue stitches.  This will be a gift for my best friend, who loves wizards and dragons and castles.  This will be just perfect for her!

On Tuesday, I went to the Aquarium of the Pacific and saw these sharks!  This is the first time I posted a video to my blog.  I hope you can see it.  Watch out for the toothy guy!

Day #17 - Harley-Davidson

Day #17 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Harley-Davidson from PINN. This was one of my CJC 2011 starts, but I never got past the first 100 stitches on the first day. My goal is to have this done for my boyfriend's birthday in June or for Christmas.

Day #16 - Thai Dancer

Day #16 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Thai Dancer from PINN.  It came in a kit with a gorgeous full color chart and beautiful floss and pretty Aspen green 14 ct Aida with all the edges already serged.  I wish all kits were like this!  I actually started this for the CJC 2011 on the very first day, but only did about 30 stitches and never touched it again until now.  I really need to grid this fabric, since the design is full of confetti and I had to be very very careful and count again and again just to get this small amount completed.  It's a challenge!

Day #15 - Singing the Blues

Day #15 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Singing the Blues by Little House Needleworks.  I substituted variegated DMC floss instead of using Belle Soie or Crescent Colors as listed in the chart.  The bird didn't turn out the way I expected because I was stitching back and forth in rows.  Do you think I should rip it all out and start over and stitch diagonally instead?  I was also thinking of using variegated green floss for the branches and leaves, instead of leaving everything blue.  I am stitching on 28 ct platinum linen, 2 over 2.

Sunday is the SAL day with Linda and Kaye for Santa's 12 Days of Christmas.  I worked on the pear tree today (partridge to come next).

Day #14 - Gatitos (kittens)

Day #14 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Gatitos (kittens), a free chart from nacaranta.com.  These adorable kitties will be 4"x12" on 16 ct Aida.  I might make it into some type of wall hanging instead of framing it.  I get so many wonderful ideas from visiting everyone's blogs.

I met five other stitchers in the SoCal Cross Stitchers Yahoo group on Saturday.  We sat and stitched and talked for hours about so many different things.  I made a lot of progress on the Happy Easter Snow Globe that I am stitching for World of Charity Stitching to be part of a quilt for a child at a domestic violence shelter or Ronald McDonald House.  Patterns for the snow globes were donated to the group by Vee and Co Cross Stitch Designs.

Day #13 - Gallinas (chickens)

Day #13 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Gallinas (chickens), a free chart from nacaranta.com.  It is a Spanish website and I had to download the cross stitch program, Puntotek, so that I could open the files, as they are not PDF files.  This picture will be bigger than I expected, 14" x 8.6".  I will stitch the chickens in B5200, so they will really look bright on the ivory 14 ct Aida fabric.

On Saturday, I will meet some ladies in the SoCal Cross Stitchers Yahoo group for a get-together.  I will bring two of my pre-UCJC projects to work on, then I will start a new one for day #14 when I get home.

Halloween House SAL update #1

Here is my progress for this Friday on Halloween House.  There are 10 of us in a SAL. You can see all of our progress pics on a page in Linda's blog. It looks like all of us have started in a different part of the chart.  It will be so fun to watch each other's progress each week!

Day #12 - Uber Christmas Tree

Day #12 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Uber Christmas Tree by Bent Creek.  I substituted almost all the floss colors on this one, so now I can finally use some variegated floss for the first time.  When I first saw this chart, I just had to buy it since the elves were so cute, trying to put the star on the Christmas tree!  The chart came with 5 bells to attach to the elves' little hats.

Next week I am on vacation from work.  I timed it just right so I could stay home and stitch!  LOL.  If I was in the 15-day Crazy January Challenge, I could get back to stitching some of my new starts, but I'm in the Ultimate 31-day start, so I will still be starting a new one every day in January.  I will use this vacation time to catch up on my WIPocalypse list, but I will also be going some places for fun!

My new blogging friend, Shaunterria, is having a giveaway on her blog to celebrate her first finish of 2012, a wonderful birth announcement for her sister's baby.  Let her know that I sent you!

Day #11 - I'll Get You My Pretty

Day #11 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is I'll Get You My Pretty, a freebie from Sue Hillis Designs.  I am using 32 ct hand-dyed Belfast linen in Voodoo color, a mixture of orange and purple.  I bought it from my LNS, Needles & Niceties, and they got it from PictureThisPlus.

You can see what the completed picture will look like on my UCJC 2012 page.

I'm looking forward to the time when all my planned starts are started, then I can go back and finish them in any order I want to, probably at random, or depending on if a birthday is coming up soon!

Happy Stitching, everyone!

Day #10 - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Day #10 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, by Wee Little Stitches.  This is Michelangelo.  He will be joined by Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael.  This will be a birthday gift for my son, who will be 28.  He was a big fan of the TMNT 20 years ago!  LOL!

Just for something different, here is a picture I took in December from a moving car going about 70 mph on the way to Grandma's house.  It is Red Rock Canyon in the Mojave Desert in California.  Isn't it pretty?

Heather is having a giveaway!

Heather in Australia is having a wonderful giveaway on her blog, Heather's Stitching Story, of 6 Little House Needleworks and Country Cottage Needleworks charts.  You can enter by leaving a comment on her blog, but if you don't, I'll have a better chance to win!

Day #9 - Star Wars - A New Hope

Day #9 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Star Wars - A New Hope, by Wee Little Stitches.  This is Luke Skywalker (without his head yet).  He will be joined by Chewbacca, Han Solo, Princess Leia, C3P0 and R2D2.  I am using blue 14 ct Aida.

I haven't shared a photo of my pets in awhile, so here is a peek into my everyday work situation!

Bubbles, Billy, and Teddy

Day #8 - Santa's 12 Days of Christmas

 

Day #8 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Santa's 12 Days of Christmas from The Prairie Schooler.  I have decided to stitch all 12 Santas on one big piece of fabric.  There is enough room for 3 Santas across and 4 rows down with 4" margins and 1/2" in between.  Each one is 3-1/2" x 5".  The entire finished piece will be 12" x 22" on 28 ct evenweave, stitched 2 over 2.  Linda and Kaye are also stitching these 12 Santas, so we're having a Sunday SAL.

I am so thankful that I received this brand new piece of 28 ct MCG Textiles evenweave in Mushroom color as a RAK from Melissa last summer.  It is just perfect for this project.  Thanks again, Melissa!

I started my cross stitch stash with a big bag of old assorted floss from a yard sale.  With the help of a DMC floss color card (with actual threads) that I bought from someone on Craigslist, I was able to figure out the corresponding DMC colors.  Many of these old embroidery flosses did not have DMC conversions available.  I am happy to be using many of these miscellaneous flosses for this Santa's 12 Days project.  These include old J&P Coats, Peri-Lusta, and Bucilla floss. 

WIPocalypse update #1

It's the first Full Moon of 2012, and time for the WIPocalypse check-in on Measi's blog!  My WIPocalypse page has a complete list of all of my WIPs with photos.  I haven't made any new progress on anything started prior to 2012.  I have been starting something new every day in January.  The only piece that got a little extra attention was Hummingbird by Teresa Wentzler.  I finished stitching all the border with white perle cotton.

Day #7 - First Love Wedding Record

Day #7 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is First Love Wedding Record, a kit by Dimensions.  I will make this for my brother and his girlfriend.  They don't have a date yet, but this seemed like a good time to get started!  Wouldn't it be great if I had it all done and only had to wait for the date to stitch at the end?

I also started and finished an ornament today, Donald Duck, a Disney kit from Janlynn.  I bought several of these in their big clearance sale.  This is my first finish of 2012.  I am in the X-Stitching Christmas Challenge on Lady Kell of Kincavel's blog.  Our goal is to finish 12 items for Christmas in 2012.  This is the first one that will be listed on my X-Stitching Christmas Challenge page.

"Donald Duck"
Disney kit by Janlynn
Started 1/7/2012, Finished 1/7/2012

Day #6 - Halloween House

Day #6 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Halloween House, an Imaginating chart designed by Ursula Michael.  There are nine of us having a SAL of Halloween House on Fridays.  You can also follow the progress of Linda, Randi, Evalina, Jen, Joyce, Vicky, Lisa, and Christy.  I hand-dyed this white Aida fabric myself, another first for me!

Day #5 - Bird Nest

 

Day #5 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Bird Nest (No 2) from Yiota's XStitch.  I really like pictures of birds and the color pink, and this design caught my eye. Yiota's has wonderful cross stitch kits.  They come with Madeira threads that are already wound onto floss bobbins!  The chart has the Madeira and DMC floss color numbers, in case you prefer to use your own DMC.

I am off work all day on Friday, so guess what I will be doing?  That's right!  Stitch, stitch, and stitch some more!

Day #4 - BBQ Queen

Day #4 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is BBQ Queen by Diane Arthurs.  Linda has also picked a Diane Arthurs chart, Lady Liberty, so we are having a Wednesday SAL which I call the Fat Lady SAL.  I'm not sure if I will keep this one for myself or give it to a friend of mine.  Isn't she adorable?

Day #3 - Hummingbird

 

Day #3 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Hummingbird by Teresa Wentzler, which is a freebie on her website and can be found HERE.  I am stitching it on 16 ct Angel Blush Aida and the finished size will be 4.25" square.  This is the first time I have used perle cotton thread.  

Day #2 - Mr. Mittens

 

Day #2 of my Ultimate Crazy January Challenge is Mr. Mittens, a kit from Janlynn, designed by Alma Lynne.  I am having a Snowman SAL with Linda and Randi on Mondays.  We are all stitching different charts but very similar snowmen.  I was able to stitch this during my work day on company time, since I had nothing to type!  I'm posting this update earlier than usual for me, and now I will stitch on something from my WIPocalypse list.

I got this far on the Harley-Davidson logo and all I have left to do is the black background and border.  That will be easy to do while watching TV, since I won't have to count or change colors.  I bought the orange hand-dyed Aida from Stitchnmomma.

I just got back into cross stitching last year when I made a wedding present for my friend.  Then I was in a car accident and was off work for six months so I had plenty of time for stitching.  I have joined Yahoo groups, Facebook groups, and started following and commenting on lots of blogs.  It has been a very fun year!  Here is a summary of my progress in 2011:  I had 26 finishes, 14 which were gifts, 9 donations to World of Charity Stitching, 5 Christmas ornaments, and 2 pieces for myself.  I am starting out 2012 with 10 WIPs.  I wonder what my summary will look like next year!