Friday, September 22, 2017

Fall Equinox

This is the best time of year. The colors of the changing leaves, the smells of spice and warm meals, the anticipation of all the holidays, the cooler weather. It is just a perfect time as far as I am concerned.

This will have to be my September/October post as we are going to fly out and see our kids. I will have internet but I will be enjoying the east coast so not much time to post on the blog.

It has been a better time since last post. My health is better so it is easier to pick up my stitching. Hockey pre-season has started which is awesome and College football on Saturdays. What a great time.

I was able to get an FFO on my counted canvas piece. I have been looking for the perfect way to finish it and I think I found it. I got a wood stand from Michael's and I had fabric, trim and a decorative topper that really sets it off well.


 I also worked on a few of my other WIPS The Death by Cross Stitch Sampler is still a favorite and it is hard at times to rotate from it. his time I filled in the area in the center. I have modified it because of my peacock modification. I am only putting in 1 of the Lions I have changed the tail, the area around his mouth and instead of the Letters in each of the upper corners I made up a lock and key for that part of the design. When it comes back into rotation I will find a boarder pattern for the right side.
 I also worked on the Army Emblem for my son's quilt and the table topper with the pumpkin silhouettes. On the flags all of the white is stitched. It is hard to tell when working on white fabric, what I do is stitch all of the colors that surround it and then just fill in the white. There is a lot of gold to come and then the back stitching to give it definition.
This catches me up with what I have been up too. Next post will be a report from our trip and maybe a bit of stitching it will all depend on how much time I will have had during our travels. 

Enjoy the fall and I hope your stitches are even and your thread never tangles!!!!!

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

September Heat

It has been an unbelievable beginning to September. This weekend we had 121 0n Friday, 134 on Saturday, 107 on Sunday and 96 on Monday. It has not been fun in anyway, the poor puppies were  not happy. I took them in 3 times and sprayed them with water to cool them down and make things easier Saturday, Friday and Sunday and Monday they got sprayed once in the morning and again in the early evening. We do not have air conditioning in the house and until this weekend I did not care. So as you can probably imagine I did not get any stitching in, it was too hot to even attempt it. That means this will be a pretty short update.

The weekend before last I had a BBQ for friends to celebrate the end of summer. It was fun except for the fact that I was having chest pains the whole time. I thought my hiatal hernia was flaring up, Sunday was similar so Monday I got in with my doctor and she thinks it might have been a heart condition. I do have a family history for heart attacks. I was then sent to a cardiologist and she is going to have me do a few test to see what is going on. Both doctors read me the riot act about not going to the hospital when I was feeling the chest pains.

Enough with the boo-hooing. I am going to be fine so on to the important stuff, Crafting. I have some FFO's and a couple of updates on my WIP's

I showed you the finished stitching last update and now I can share the FFO of those 4 smalls. 3 pillows and 1 wall hanging. I love the colors in these.

  
And I have some good progress on the Stoney Creek Spring Village pattern. I love these colors and the fun of the houses. 
That is it for stitching on this update with health and heat I have had limited ability to stitch and I really miss the joy that it gives me on a day to day basis.

I am doing a personal Stitch from Stash Challenge. I had signed up with a Facebook group. It was just going to be a fun thing to try to get me to look in my stash and do some of the patterns I have bought instead of buying new stuff. Well it got really discouraging. The way the moderator has set-up the rules people were getting more credit for finishing a Lizzie Kate pattern then a person who was stitching a full coverage page such as a HAED or a Atesy pattern. How is that even remotely fair. I questioned her in a private message and she said in her eyes it is a fair system. As I said it was just suppose to be a fun effort but it really struck me as crazy to say a full coverage was not as challenging as a more simple pattern such as Prairie Schooler or Lizzie Kate. I told her thanks for the chance to join but it was not my idea of fair so I left. I did not air any of my discontent on the open forum as I feel that is rude. I went in with my expectations and that was not how it came about. That is my bad, I should have researched the rules better. So I am still following the basic rules I have a budget of $25 each month for new threads, fabric or patterns and I get a credit for the amount of stitching I finish each month. It is not a scientific formula it is just a basic I stitched about this many stitches so that is about this much credit. I keep track of purchases and have a spread sheet. After 2 months of following this challenge I am at a + $21.68 I would have wished for a better result but the purchase of the Halloween table topper and fabric set me back. Plus I have bought several new over dye threads. At least I am still in the positive balance so hopefully I can stop spending and just stitch what I have. I am thinking of starting a Stitch from Stash Challenge the first of 2018 and maybe have a check in and prize give away. It could be fun but I would have to figure out how the check in would work.

All right folks that is about all there is this time. Enjoy the cooler weather, fall colors and stitching time you all can find time for!!!!!!!!!!