Two finishes and two SAL updates!

Hurray!  I know it's creepy, but I cross stitched the Ant for my aunt!  (She collects them.)  Now I just have to find a frame.  I found this free pattern on http://cross-stitch-pattern.net/.

"Ant"
Designed by Ann Logan
Started 10/21/2011, Finished 11/9/2011

When I visit my aunt, I will also visit my grandma and give her this walker bag sewn by Dona with the finished Violets Teacup cross stitch that I made from a free pattern from Vermillion Stitchery.  There are four pockets in the front and two in the back and a big one in the center.  It hangs on the walker and the ties are attached at the sides.  I bought the purple roses fabric and purple corduroy at Jo-Ann's.  Dona sews a lot of these walker bags with cross stitch pieces made by members of World of Charity Stitching to donate to nursing home residents.

Now for the SAL updates!  Linda and I are stitching Dog House Sampler on Wednesdays.  I didn't make very much progress, only stitched the big dog bone.

This is update #8 on our Friday SAL of Trick or Treat by Ursula Michael.  I stitched the letter K and some spider webs.  Next week I plan to do a few more letters.  When we finish the Dog House Sampler, we will stitch Trick or Treat two days a week so we can finish it before January.  You can see Linda's progress HERE.

If you're interested in the Q-Snap huggies, I buy them from Christine's Q-Snap Huggies.  She sews them up in a jiffy!

Violets Teacup - Finished!

 

I finished the Violets Teacup freebie from Vermillion Stitchery!  The picture was taken outside so you can see the actual color of the fabric is mint parfait, a very light green.  I bought fabric at JoAnn's and my friend Dona has offered to sew it into a walker bag for my grandma!  Another pic will be posted when it's finished.

"February Violets - Teacup Posies 2011 Series"
Designed by Donna Vermillion Giampa
Started 9/17/2011, Finished 10/20/2011

This is my progress on the Dog House Sampler for my Wednesday night SAL with Linda.  She started on the letters first, and I started on the dog.  She is also stitching the companion piece, Kitty Cottage Sampler.

Now that I've posted my updates, I can start stitching on my Friday SAL, Trick or Treat.  Happy Stitching!

Violets Teacup - update #4

I finished stitching the leaves. Now the last thing to do is the backstitching!

I've been having so much fun stitching lately. I love starting new projects and building up my stash of fabric, floss, and charts. It's amazing that some of you have entire stitching rooms and shelves and closets full of goodies. All my kits and charts are in one box, fabric in another, and floss in another. I think I will need another box soon!

How is the weather where you live? I have seen some pics on blogs of the trees changing colors in the fall. That is something I never see in Southern California. It was 102 degrees yesterday! Wow!

Violets Teacup - update #3

Hurray! I'm finished with all the 7 shades of purple and 4 shades of gray!  Now all that is left is the 5 shades of green for the leaves, and the dreaded backstitching!  If anyone wants to stitch this freebie from Vermillion Stitchery, be sure to use 28ct evenweave or linen and stitch over 2, because this project is FULL of 1/4 and 3/4 stitches on every flower petal and especially the stripes on the cup and saucer.  The picture on the website sure looks a lot simpler than it actually turned out to be, but I'm glad that I followed through with it.

Now I'm going to stitch on something easy for awhile!

Violets Teacup - update #2

This is finally starting to look prettier. I am done with most of the purple flowers and part of the teacup. Next, I will stitch the rest of the teacup, then do the green leaves, and save all the backstitching for last.  That will really make a difference!

I tried something different and took a picture of the clown outside next to my hibiscus plant.  I finished his blue bow tie using bright turquoise floss.  The diamonds will be purple to match his purple hat.

I went for a scenic drive the other day and took this panoramic picture from a mountain top.  Can you see the itty bitty buildings? That is downtown Los Angeles, about 30 miles away. Click on the picture for a better view.

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...)