Bon Noel finished and Halloween House SAL update #7

I finished my second Christmas piece for the X-Stitching Christmas Challenge!  I used variegated green for the tree and DMC Jewel Effects floss for the red ornaments.  My plan is to finish it by following Vonna's tutorial for a Flat Ornament.  Now I just need to find some fabric and ribbon!

"Bon Noel"
Designed by Claire Findlay
gazette94
Started 2/4/2012, Finished 3/3/2012

I have moved it from my WIPocalypse page to my Finishes 2012 page.

Halloween House update #7

 

For the Friday SAL on Halloween House, I stitched the grass in front and more of the black wrought iron fence.  I wonder which direction I will go next Friday, to the right or left or above?  Blueberrie approves!  (My daughter named him that because his eyes were blue but not anymore, and she spelled it wrong on purpose!)

BBQ Queen SAL update #4

BBQ Queen update #4

Linda and I are both stitching charts by Diane Arthurs on Wednesdays.  I finished stitching her arm, part of her purple dress, and collar.  I hope to start on her face next week.

 

Day #60 is Boules Baroques, a free chart from Vava's blog.  I am stitching these in different colors on perforated paper, then I will cut them out to make ornaments.

Linda and I extended the Ultimate Crazy January Challenge (31 starts) to February (29 starts) for a total of 60 new starts!  But Linda is going all the way to 100 new starts!  I am happy with my 60, plus a few previous WIPs.  Everything is listed on my WIPocalypse page.  I don't know how many I will finish in 2012, but hopefully at least half of them!  Thank you so much for watching my progress and cheering me on!

Bird finished for WOCS, and two new starts!

Bird - finished!

Hurray!  I finished this Bird for World of Charity Stitching!  Everyone used the same free pattern found HERE, and chose their own floss color and also provided fabric for the border.  I found material with blue swirls on it, which was a perfect match!

"Bird"
Designed by Claire Findlay
gazette94
Started 2/6/2012, Finished 2/28/2012

 

Day #58 is Leo, a free design from Stitch Alley.  I am using black floss on red 14 ct Aida, just like the Quoth the Raven design from Day #45.  This will be a gift for my daughter, whose birthday is in August.  I am not sure how I will finish it, but I'm thinking of something that can hang from a doorknob or maybe a little pillow.

 

Day #59 is Merci, another freebie chart from gazette94.  I will also stitch the Thank You design and put them back to back and hang from a ribbon.  Both designs are found HERE.  The fabric is 14 ct Mint Parfait Aida, and I am using pink variegated floss.  This is also for my daughter, who hopes to live and work in Paris some day!

Mr. Mittens update #4

I finished all the checkered squares and started the shoes for Mr. Mittens, for my Monday SAL with Linda.  You can barely tell he's a snowman, since he's covered with clothes!

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas SAL update #6

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas update #6

I am really enjoying stitching Santa and the pear tree!  I think I will finish after two more Sundays, then I can start on the 2nd day of Christmas!

Feeding the Rabbits

Day #57 is Feeding the Rabbits by Handmaiden Cross Stitch.  I am using pink hand-dyed 14 ct Aida and DMC 3765, Very Dark Peacock Blue floss.  The finished size will be 11" square.  I think this will be so pretty!

It is finally raining here in Southern California, which is very rare.  Perfect weather to sit inside and stitch!

Prairie Schooler Spring & Fall - March SAL update #3

Spring & Fall - March update #3

The lion has a front leg now, and there is more grass under the lamb.  Rosemary and I are almost at the same place on this one.  I hope the lion has a head by next week!

Skel on Bike

Day #56 is Skel on Bike by Angel Designs.  They have lots of other great skeleton designs; one using a drill or a blow dryer, and even one in a bathtub!  I am stitching on 22 ct evenweave that I dyed black.  It is hard to tell, but the solid white line is actually 5 rows of stitches for the frame of the bike.  The diagonal line is part of his right leg.  The finished size will be 12.25" x 13".

Halloween House SAL update #6

Halloween House update #6

On this Friday, I stitched more of the purple house below the window and started on the black wrought iron fence.  The dark purple floss I am using was a free skein from Rosace Threads, and now I notice that the color is slightly different than the DMC, so I hope one skein will be enough for the whole house!  Rosace gave away 3 skeins of floss to everyone last year.  The company is in Spain and they use the same floss numbers as DMC.  The cost is only 0.50 Euros each, so maybe this is a better price for my stitchy friends in Europe.

Bird update #1

I am really enjoying stitching this Bird for World of Charity Stitching.  Everyone is stitching the same freebie pattern from a French blog, gazette94, in their own choice of color, and they will all be put together in a quilt.

Spooky

Day #54 is Spooky, a freebie from a Hungarian blog, amintkipattan.  The chart was just the right size for a bookmark.  I think it's adorable!

C'est Noel

Day #55 is C'est Noel, a freebie from The Sampler Girl.  I am using DMC Light Effects metallic floss, which is very difficult!  I have to be so careful that it doesn't kink up with every stitch, so I didn't get very much done on it.  I am stitching on green hand-dyed Aida with sparkles.  My plan is to make it into an ornament with ribbon trim and backing fabric in a holiday print.

You can see all my current WIPs on my WIPocalypse page.  In just a few more days, I will not be starting a new project everyday and will be filling up my Finishes 2012 page instead!

Monday and Wednesday SAL updates

I am in SALs on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  I think my Monday Snowman SAL with Linda will be the first one to be finished, and then we'll pick another project to stitch together.  We have several of the same charts in the UCJC that we started in January.

Mr. Mittens update #3

I stitched the red glove and more purple squares on Monday.

BBQ Queen update #3

I stitched more of her right arm and part of her purple dress on Wednesday.

 

Day #53 is Red Cat from Cross Stitchers Club.  I am using Vikki Clayton hand-dyed silk floss. I don't know the color name, but it's bluish and purplish.  Everyone in the SoCalCrossStitchers Yahoo group who came to our stitching get-together got a free skein of the silk floss.  I am stitching over 2 on 28 ct Antique White Jobelan.  This makes the quarter stitches so much easier!

Days #50-#52

I am finally caught up on all my new starts for the Super-Duper Ultimate Crazy February Challenge!  Only 8 more days of February with 8 new starts to go!  Some of the charts still need to be printed, but I'm out of printer ink right now.  I think I will email them to myself and print them at my mom's house.

Day #50 is Noel, an ornament from NeedleMagic, Inc.  I bought a lot of ornament kits from Linda last year.  I love it when they come with the frame.  My Christmas tree will be covered with cross-stitched ornaments!

Day #51 is Ariel, a Disney ornament from Janlynn.  I bought a lot of these last year from Janlynn when they had a Disney clearance sale.  I want to stitch an ornament for everyone in the family.  This one will be for my niece.

Day #53 is Butterfly, an ornament from Designs for the Needle.  This one will be for my daughter for Christmas.  I'm looking forward to giving everyone a new ornament!

You can see all my planned starts for February on my SDUCFC page.  I actually listed 4 ornaments each for three of the days, so I'm planning to stitch 12 of these little ornaments with frames for everyone (and some for myself).  It feels great to have a head start on Christmas gifts already!

TUSAL #2 and a new start!

It's time again for the TUSAL.  Share pics of your ORT jar for February and leave a comment on Daffycat's blog.  I keep this star-shaped glass dish up high on a bookshelf so the cats don't get into it, but I think I'll need to switch to a bigger jar soon!  I'm trying to make my TUSAL pics interesting, so I asked Teddy to help this time.

Day #49 is the Disney Princess Birth Announcement, another kit I bought from Janlynn in their 90% off Disney sale.  The finished size will be 11" x 13" on 14 ct white Aida.  I am making this for my niece, who is already 5 years old.  My goal is to have it done by Christmas.

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe: Another chart giveaway!

Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having another giveaway of 10 PDF charts she has designed!  Enter by leaving a comment HERE.  Tell her that I sent you and I'll get another entry!  Thanks!

Nicola's funny sleeping positions competition!

I learned about this fun competition from Kaye's blog.  Nicola's son will choose the winners for the best photos of a funny sleeping position, one for humans and one for pets.  The prizes are gorgeous Shepherd's Bush charts!  Enter by posting a comment on her blog, Stitching By a Cornish Sea Shore, with a link to your blog with photos.

This is my favorite pic of Billy and Bubbles, snuggled together in the kitty bed.  It's also a popular bed for Blueberrie, the black and white cat.

All my pets get along fabulously, as you can see by Blueberrie and Teddy sharing the couch!

They are my daughter's cat and dog, and now you can see why they are so close together, because they both want to be near her!

My son came to visit and was sleeping in my bed.  Teddy wanted to show him some hospitality and made himself comfortable!

I'm looking forward to seeing more entries in this fun competition!

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas SAL update #5

Santa's 12 Days of Christmas update #5

Santa is finally coming to life!  I still need to stitch the rest of his body and the rest of the tree, before moving on to the 2nd Day of Christmas!  All 12 days will be stitched on one large piece of fabric.

Dance of the Geckos

Day #46 is Dance of the Geckos, designed by Jenny Rasmussen.  This freebie chart can be found HERE.  I am stitching this on 14 ct black Aida with DMC Light Effects floss.  The finished size will be 5" x 5" square.  This will be a gift for my mom.

Merry Christmas

Day #47 is Merry Christmas, designed by Nancy Turner of Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.  The finished size will be pretty big at 7.5" high and 19.5" wide on 14 ct ivory Aida.  I won this chart in one of Nancy's many giveaways on her blog.  In fact, she is having another giveaway now with the winner drawn on March 15th.  Tell her I sent you and I'll get another entry!

Christmas Sampler

Day #48 is Christmas Sampler by The Prairie Schooler.  It is the small square design in the And to All a Good Night leaflet.  I am not stitching the large design, but just the small square one that will be about 6" square.  I am stitching over 2 on 28 ct Antique White Jobelan.

Only a dozen more starts to go in the Super-Duper Ultimate Crazy February Challenge!  (I'm definitely not doing this again in 2013.  Hahaha!)  You can see all my starts for January and February (plus a few older ones) on my WIPocalypse 2012 page.  When a piece is finished, I move it to the Finishes 2012 page.