I Won A Blogoversary!

What a lovely surprise to find my parcel in the mailbox today! I had commented on Bekca's blog, The Stitching Lion and had no intention of winning anything. I just loved her Nature's Beauty WIP by Little House Needleworks. I have that one in my own stash and love the design. She commented on my blog that I should pay her blog a visit; that I would be glad I did. I was astonished that I had won anything! The parcel got here in just a few days all the way from the UK! Bekca's stitching is beautiful, and I'm going to enjoy every bit of the contents. She even wrapped it all in cupcake paper. Just a really beautiful little package that thrilled me so much! Thank you, Bekca!

Isn't this the sweetest little ducky Bekca stitched on a bookmark? The back looks as good as the front!

Here is the wrapping paper, a very sweet card to me, a new pair of scissors, a skein of Duchess floss, some springy finishing fabric, and some lovely 32ct hand-dyed Belfast linen. Isn't it all just a lovely package for a very sweet teenager to put together?

Happy Easter!

To all my stitching friends who celebrate the Christ Who Is Risen!

Blogoversary Alert

Tangerinedream of Cross Stitch and Cupcakes is doing a huge anniversary giveaway! Check it out!

A Big Update, Long Overdue

I'm really trying to keep it together after the loss of Bear, so I've kept busy stitching. Though I'm a very slow stitcher, I have managed to have a few things come together at approximately the same time. I'm finally doing a rotation that I worked out with the help of several girls who offered suggestions. I really think it was actually Shelleen who helped me the most. I work on two UFO's a month and two WIP's a month, then just on Sundays, I work on a Halloween/Autumn/Thanksgiving project, and on the 25th of each month, I start on a Christmas ornament. The latter two are done as SAL's with a Yahoo group I'm on, Stitching Sisters. I'm thinking because of being so slow that I should start one on the 20th of each month to insure a finished ornament before the end of each month and still allow for my other rotation stitching.

Also, as I finish things, they go into an increasingly larger pile to be either framed or sewn into their respective finished forms. I need to gather small print fabrics and other notions to take a week or two and put everything together. I haven't had many pieces framed lately because of the expense, but I need to begin having things framed, even if it's only one a month. If not, I'm afraid that all the things I've stitched will end up in hands that know nothing of the work involved and get tossed eventually.

These are shots of one of my UFO's: "Winter Sampler" by Little House Needleworks.

This is my ornament for the month of March, "Snowy Pines" by Little House Needleworks.

The results of my Sunday SAL, "Haunted House" stocking by Blackbird Designs. D'ya think I'll find Halloween fabric to make this into a stocking? Don't think so this time of year. I've started on the 2nd stocking from the same book:

This stocking is named "Whooo's Knocking At My Door."





Here are some things I've also been working on:

Another UFO, a kit, "Goldfinch Gathering." This is what I pulled out of hiding in the abyss under the basement stairs. This has now been put back out of sheer frustration. I did finish the bird, but any pitiful progress on starting the fence post has to be frogged (one stitch off).

I found that one of my problems is that I don't really like stitching on 18ct aida any longer, so who knows what will become of this piece. I really love the colors in it! And to top it off, there is not enough thread to finish it all. No great loss, though, as I bought is for about $4 quite a few years ago.

Another UFO I've had for a couple of years, "The Library" by Little House Needleworks. I am not pleased with the stitching that is shown in this photo, as I was half blind because of  Sjogren's Syndrome, which is secondary to my lupus. Thank goodness you can't really see how bad the stitches are, but they are very distasteful to me. Though I use artificial tears, they weren't helping at the time that this part was stitched because my large tear ducts were opening back up after having had them cauterized so that they healed over (closed) to preserve moistness in the eyes. I had them re-cauterized in late December 2010, and my eyesight is much improved so that this part of the design is going to be frogged after I finish the rest of this piece. I really like this design, so I'm sticking with it if it takes me a couple of years!

And here is the same with a bit of progress stitching that is acceptable to me.

This will be the second time I've stitched this one. The first one went to my daughter after having it framed for her. Here is the first one:

And yet another WIP, just recently started:

This is the cutest lil' thing - Country Cottage Needleworks' "Bunny Hop."
My next post will be a "catch up" as well, with the S.A.B.L.E that I've hauled since my LNS's Super Bowl Sale till now.

Signing off with a photo of my oldest kitty, Pib (Pain In the Butt), whom we call Pibbie. She's a pitiful little 15-year-old tortoise-shell kitty that no one but a mother could love.