A finish, a new start, and a SAL update!

I finally finished this double light switch cover for my mom!  I bought the book, "Stitches and Switches" by Fond Memories way back in 1997, with the plan to have cross-stitched light switch covers all over the house!  Thanks to the Crazy January Challenge 2011, I finally made one!  This is for my mom's kitchen.

"Plymouth Rock Chickens"
Designed by Laura Doyle
Started 1/12/2011, Finished 11/16/2011

This Happy Easter Snow Globe is a new start for World of Charity Stitching as a quilt square.  They are making a quilt of Snow Globe designs by Vee and Co Cross Stitch.  Vee donated the designs for us to use.  She has lots of adorable patterns for sale on her website!

On the Dog House Sampler SAL with Linda, I finished the fence and a few more letters.  Linda is way ahead of me, so I have to hurry and catch up!  When we are finished, we will stitch on Trick or Treat on Wednesdays too.

Chickens, Ant, and Dog House updates!

My mom's kitchen is decorated with chickens, so this will be a perfect gift!  This will be put into a clear plastic double light switch cover.  There will be a chicken coop and barn in the upper corners.  The bottom half is completely finished.  I'm using a hoop for this one since it's too small to fit in my Q-Snaps. It is stitched on 14ct Fiddler's cloth.

My mom's sister (my aunt) actually collects ants, so I'm stitching this one for her!  I found the pattern at http://cross-stitch-pattern.net/.  The rear and middle part of the ant are finished and now I'm starting on the head and front legs.  It is also stitched on 14ct Fiddler's cloth.

Linda (Stitchin' With My Furbabies) and I are both stitching Dog House Sampler on Wednesdays.  It looks like I have a couple more Wednesdays to go before this is finished.  It is my third project that is also stitched on 14ct Fiddler's cloth!

Here is a pic of Teddy all dressed up for Halloween!  He also greeted the trick-or-treaters at the front door!

Trick or Treat SAL - update #5

I started on another witch hat with a black cat hiding underneath it. I've been doing some backstitching too, so I don't have it all waiting for me when I'm finished.  Linda, my SAL partner, has most of the second hat finished already. We plan to keep doing SAL's on Fridays. After we finish Trick or Treat, we will start Halloween House, also designed by Ursula Michael. Linda is having a giveaway on her blog for 2 Halloween House charts.  Feel free to join us, whether you win a chart or not!

I have a small update on the Plymouth Rock Chickens double light switch cover.  I stitched the chicken's legs and one baby chick. This will go under a clear plastic light switch cover for my mom's kitchen.

Since I finished the Violets Teacup, I started something new! This is called "Ant" by Ann Logan, a freebie on her website, cross-stitch-pattern.net. My aunt collects ants, and she lives in the same city as my grandma. So when we go to visit, I will have gifts for both of them!  I'm stitching on 14ct Fiddler's cloth.  This chart has 17 different colors.  I'm having fun stitching it, even though it gives my daughter the creeps!  She hates bugs.

TUSAL #10 and two updates!

It's time for a new update on my ORT jar! You can see some shimmery threads from the Fairies. I have so many projects planned for next year that I think I'll need a bigger jar for the 2012 TUSAL!

The is the Plymouth Rock Chickens light switch cover that I am making for my mom. The little square in the chicken is where one of the screws goes to attach the light switch cover to the wall. This is a straggler from the Crazy January Challenge. I'm using a new hoop that came in a box of stash goodies on eBay. Thanks to Sarah Beth for explaining to me how to use it! (It has a metal ring in back with handles that you squeeze together, and a red plastic/rubber ring in front.)

My next update is the Violets Teacup, a freebie from Vermillion Stitchery. It has 7 different shades of purple and lots of quarter-stitches, so I'm going very slowly on this one and changing threads a lot! Now I wish I had started it on 28ct linen and stitched over 2, so the quarter-stitches wouldn't be so difficult. This will be for my grandma, but I don't want to wait until her birthday in December to give it to her. Hopefully we will visit her next month.

Has everyone joined the Crazy January Challenge for 2012 yet? Minna and Niina started a Crazy January 2012 Yahoo group, and now I hear they have an Ultimate CJC, where you start 31 projects, one for each day in January! Wow!

New Stash, New Start, New Update!

What a bargain I found!  I got all this on eBay for only $8.50.  There are 9 new pieces of 14ct Aida cloth in green, red, black, yellow, and blue, 4 new packages of waste cloth, and 100 skeins of floss (DMC, Anchor, and JP Coats).  There were also a couple of hoops, embroidery scissors, a floss sorter, and 2 Christmas ornament kits.  I also sold some things on eBay this week, so I actually came out ahead!

My new start is the February Violets of the Teacup Posies 2011 series by Vermillion Stitchery.  It has 7 different shades of purple.  I am stitching on mint parfait 14ct Aida.  This is a gift for my grandma.  She will be 99 in December!

This is the Plymouth Rock Chickens double light switch cover I am stitching for my mom on 14ct fiddlers cloth (she collects chickens).  I started this last January as one of the Crazy January Challenge projects and never got back to it.  Well, I'm not too late yet!  The piece of fabric is too small for a Q-Snap, so I'm using a hoop.

I joined the Facebook CrosstitchCrazy2012 group and also the Yahoo CrazyJanuary2012 group.  I have posted pics of some of my 15 new projects to start each day for the first 15 days of January in albums in both of those groups, and I will make a new page on my blog with a list of them too.  Everyone is so excited about choosing new projects for January, that it reminded me that I should finish some WIP from this year first!

To finish off this posting, I am including a pic of my sweet old dogs taken a year before they both died of old age.  Brandy, the Golden Retriever, was 14 in this pic and died at 15 years old.  Norman, the Cocker Spaniel, was 15 in this pic and died at 16 years old in his sleep.  We had the dogs since they were puppies, and they were inseparable.  We have lots of pics of them growing up with my kids.  After a few months, my daughter and I visited two different animal shelters and adopted two more dogs.  Thanks for sharing this memory with me! (I'm crying now...)

Day #7 - Plymouth Rock Chickens

I bought this pattern book a few years ago, with the intention of stitching new light switch covers all over my house.  The first one I will make is for my mom, the Plymouth Rock Chickens.  She can put it in her dining room, kitchen, or hallway.  It is stitched on 14-ct Fiddlers cloth.