International Hermit and Stitch Weekend

Well...it was kind of a crazy weekend, but I did manage to get a little stitching in!  It was partly because it was my husband's birthday, and partly because there was a Raven's game and mostly because both days the kids were here for part of both days!  AND Friday was a snow day so my husband was around for the whole time!  So I decided (because Anne Thomas is such a big pattern, and my hand gets tired holding the frame for a long period of time) I would throw in a couple of smaller projects now and then to rest my hand.  Here are before and after pictures of my progress.  

First up is Anne Thomas 1854.  I dearly love this pattern.  Working on it is a challenge because it is so big, but also because of the number of color changes.  I'm beginning to think I need a floor stand for this beauty but it will require a different place to stitch.  I'll have to put my thinking cap on!  Anyway, here are before and after pictures (where I finished last night)  

I started Letters To Santa Friday, and finished it on Saturday, he was a fun little stitch.  He is by Jennifer Redmond and is from the 2023 JCS Ornament issue.  He is stitched on 32 count Vintage Blue Whisper over two.  

Last is a start on Believe by Rosewood Manor.  This is also from the 2023 JCS Ornament Issue.  I'm stitching this on 40 count antique white over two.  I like to keep them small and this will be sweet when it's finished!  

Since the beginning of this year (and because of the notebook my DIL gave me) I've been keeping track of the number of stitches I'm doing.  Since the beginning of the year I've put in 14,850 stitches.  this weekend (Friday through Monday) I put in 2,479 stitches.  I think I'll start posting Saturday progress reports on the number of stitches.  That is if my brain remembers.   Seems lately my brain keep wandering off.  LOL  Now I just need to schedule in some time for finishing!  Fingers crossed...will happen soon!  Off to get some REAL stitching time in!  Happy Stitching!  

January Gifted Gorgeousness

Oh my goodness, I can't believe half of January is already gone!  I've had my head down trying to get some things stitched, and suddenly I realized it's the 15th!  If you aren't familiar with Gifted Gorgeousness, please go to Jo's blog, Serendipitous Stitching, (click here) and sign up!  Then go to her home page and see what everyone else is stitching for this challenge.

I don't have much for the January GG.  It's been a weird start to the year!  First up is Beatrix Potter.  My husband gifted this to me last year, along with the fabric and floss.  I loved stitching this one!  The pattern is from Stitchy Box and was stitched on 28 count Vellum over one.  I changed the initials and date to commemorate our 40th wedding anniversary that will happen in August of this year!  

I also finished The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by The Heart's Content.  This was a kit that was gifted to me from a friend several years ago.  It's stitched on 32 count fabric over one.  I love it (now that it's finished) and hope to fully finish it soon!  

This last one is not a GG piece, but I thought I would show you my progress.  This is Anne Thomas 1854 by Hands Across The Sea Samplers.  I have had this in my stash for a long time, so thought I would start it on New Year's Day.  It's stitched on 40 count Vintage Butter Pecan over two.  I'm a little afraid the fabric is too dark, but I'm going with it...I hope I still love it when I'm done.  The lettering took 3 days of solid stitching..and it's stitched over one....ugh!!  I plan on showing updates as I go along.  As of today I have finished stitching 2 full pages of the 20 pages in the pattern.  It's going to take a long time but I'm really hoping I can finish it in time to enter in the fair.  (I seriously have my doubts I can do it).  We will see how it goes.  

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope everyone has had a wonderful start to their New Year!  Happy Stitching!    

First Finish of the New Year!

I'm so excited to share with you my first finish of the New Year!  This is The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by The Heart's Content.  This was stitched on 32 count unbleached Glenshee linen over 1.  I've had this in my stash for quite a while it was time I had it stitched.  I enjoyed most of it, until I started with the wreath.  It was so full of confetti stitches and I'll be honest, I didn't try to outline the blue bits in the wreath.  Even the backstitching that I finished today was a bit tedious.  I am happy with the outcome though...and I'll be thinking of how I want to fully finish this off!  

I found the kit a little frustrating.  Each bit of floss was folded and bound with a little tag on a piece of thread.  I finally put them on this organizer (which was a Christmas gift from a former co-worker...thanks Christina!)  Isn't this organizer lovely?  And she gave me TWO!!  It sure made working with this pattern much easier.  

I have actually been stitching a bit on both the Heart's Content piece and Anne Thomas 1854 by Hands Across The Sea Samplers.  This one is being stitched on 40 count Vintage Butter Pecan over two.  I truly love working on this sampler.  I'm glad I can spend all my stitching time on this now, it's a joy to work on.  

Tomorrow I'll be taking down the Christmas decorations.  It's always a little sad when the pretty lights and sparkly decorations are put away.  I'm already looking forward to decorating next year!  LOL!!  

Thanks for dropping in again.  Hopefully it will be a while before I post again.  Happy Stitching! 

Fun new stitch items

I have a few things I wanted to share that I received for Christmas.  DH usually gifts me a pattern and this year didn't disappoint.  I had been collecting these "freebies" from Stoney Creek so he ordered this chart and fabric and these patterns came along for the ride!  Now that I have all the letters for Noel, I hope to start it soon!  I'm looking forward to stitching these fun snowmen too!  

DH found this vintage book online and after leafing through it, I think it will come in real handy!  It has lovely pictures of different stitches along with clear written directions.  I look forward to using it often!  

DH also found this sweet sewing caddy at a craft fair in November.  As you can see I've already stashed a few items in it....to include these new needles.  

I've been stitching with these needles and it's like cutting butter with a hot knife!  They are steel black hypo-allergenic needles and while every other needle I've stitched with tarnish within a few days, these have remained smooth and tarnish free!  I love the way they feel and they glide through the fabric easily.  The white eye makes it so easy to thread (plus when he ordered them from the Silver Needle, they included an ultra fine needle threader for these size 28 needles!)  I think I've finally found my favorite needles!  

Last but not least is this amazing stitch journal.  I'm looking forward to filling it with all the stitching I'm planning this year.  I've begun counting stitches and recording them in the journal daily.  I love being so organized!  

And that's all there is to show today.  I hope you found some stitch goodies under your tree this year too!  And hopefully that's all I have to show for a while.  Until next time, I'll be in my stitching spot, working on .... something ... to be determined!  Happy Stitching!

Happy New Year!

It's the start of a New Year and I am already a day late...LOL!!  I had hoped to have a blog entry yesterday, but after all the festivities since before Christmas I decided to give myself a break!  I even begged for the week off from watching Miss A this week.  I'm just too tired...but I know I will miss her.  

Anyway, on to the New Year news.  I did make my traditional  New Years start yesterday, and I decided it would be Anne Thomas 1854, a reproduction by Hands Across The Sea Samplers.  I fell in love with this the minute I saw it.  I ordered the fabric from Cecelia's Samplers a couple of years ago but because of Covid it took several months to arrive.  While I was waiting I watched for a sale from JoAnn's to get the floss I would need.  Then it sat kitted up for ages.  I kept running across it looking for other things to stitch, and the last time I saw it I put it in a more prominent place and decided it would be my New Years start.  It's stitched on 40 count Vintage Butter Pecan.  I can't tell you how lovely this fabric is, and it was sooooo worth the wait!  Pictures just don't do it justice!  I think I'll be cursing myself when it comes to the over one portions, but I'm hoping it will still remain small enough to be able to find a place on my wall somewhere.  LOL!  Wish me luck, I tend to burn out quickly on these BAPs.  

I usually have a Christmas Day start too, but as was my luck, it turned out to be a crazy day.  So...I started this the next day, it was a gift (so I'm sure you will be seeing it again, hopefully with a bit more stitching on it) from a lady who was cleaning out her stash.  This is The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by The Heart's Content.  It was a kit so I'm stitching on the 32 count fabric (I think it's called Unbleached Glenshee Irish Linen) over one as described in the instructions found in the kit.  I do love this one...and it was one of her annual Christmas Ornament patterns from 2000.  I guess I'll need to change the date a bit...lol.  Hopefully I can finish it before the year is out.  It's tedious work as a lot of the stitches are so close together.  I do love the look of it though.  

I usually start the year with a list of things I want to stitch, a plan of how I'll go about it (which usually doesn't turn out as planned), and a list of accomplishments of the previous year.  I was given a notebook for Christmas from my DIL that has a calendar, challenges, and places to write hopes and accomplishments.  Let's hope I can actually find the time to fill out some of the pages.  I will say I counted all the stitches I stitched yesterday, it turned out to be 1,190 I think.  Yes, I had a productive day!  

So for a recap of last year, I started 5 of the 9 things I hoped to start, and finished 3 of them.  Pretty good for me I'd say!  

I had 9 WIPs on my list to finish and actually did finish 4 of them.  

I listed 6 SALs but only started 3 of them and of those 3 I finished 1.  That's pretty sad...lol!!  

I started 19 big projects and much to my surprise, I finished 13 of them!  Whoo hooo!  

I finished stitching 87 things last year, some I had started previous years, some of them were smalls that were not listed as starts.  7 of them I would consider BAPs.  4 of those were entered in the State Fair and all of them won blue ribbons (and some a special ribbon).  58 of them were fully finished. 

I fully finished 89 things, most of them Christmas Ornaments, but some were full sized framed pieces.  Some of them had been finished years previously.  I hope to dig into more of the things I finished years ago and get them fully finished as well.  

I finished and fully finished 2 of the 3 Christmas Ornament challenges I started last year.  I think I'll only do two this year, and throw in some other ornaments not from Just Cross Stitch magazine that I have in my stash.  I want to make a list of people I want to stitch for and stitching things that are meaningful to them.  I already have some substitutes listed on my 2024 Goals page.  That is not complete for next year yet, but hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have that a little more organized along with my notebook.  

When I have a few minutes, I'll take a picture of the book and some other goodies I received for Christmas that I would like to share with you!  

One of the things I truly want to do this year, is stitch from stash, with the only exception being that I buy floss and specialty fabric for certain projects.  I have so many things kitted up that I feel wasteful buying new things.  I also hope to not spend as much time on the internet as I have in the past, because I see things I really want to stitch, but will never have the time in my lifetime.  LOL!!  

I have some things that I have finished stitching that I need to assemble and fully finished, I hope to make them a priority this year as well.  

So that is my New Year's Resolution...along with exercising more and losing weight.  Now that it's in print, I really hope to make it a priority and stick to it for the benefit of my family.  I honestly believe we need to take care of ourselves so as we age others won't have to take care of us.  Ok, I think that's a wrap!  I hope everyone has a happy, healthy, productive and prosperous New Year.  Best of luck in 2024!!