A Fun Night!

Halloween in our new neighborhood was a blast! Spider-Man and Merida had a great time and came home with great candy!

Spider-Man and Merida!

This was my son's first real Halloween where he understood the concepts. He kept saying to me "Let's go find another door, Mommy!" because he knew knocking on doors got him more candy! My favorite line of the night, though, was hearing another family tell a young child "Just go with the zombies, honey."...HA!

My job interview went really well today and I'm going to be going in for another round of interviews, which is a great sign! Fingers crossed!

I also got some stitching in on Tribal Penguin tonight after all the trick-or-treating was done:

As of 10/31/12

I'm definitely going to continue to rotate back and forth between this piece and May Lily of the Valley Teacup until they're both done, then I'll be back to my normal routine.

I hope you had a safe and fun Halloween! And to all of my new followers from the blog hop and beyond, welcome! I hope you enjoy it here!

Until next time!
~Katy

Happy Halloween Blog Hop!

I'm posting this a little bit early because I'm going to be busy tomorrow! I hope everyone has a very Happy Halloween! If you are participating in the Halowe'en Blog Hop hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching, you've come to the right place! The next letter for the Mystery Phrase is....(drumroll please!)

O

And here is my stitchy picture - my stitchy goal for Halloween and a new start in hopefully the very near future so I can display it next year:

My Witch's Brew by Nancy Turner - Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe

And my supplies are ready to go:

My supplies!

Can't wait to share the finished product with you!

Now, head on out on your way to go visit Jo at Serendipitous Stitching who is not only the host of the blog hop but our next stop!

Happy Halloween!

~Katy

Yay for Stitching!

I cannot tell you how excited I was to be stitching again tonight. Saturday and Sunday, I did a lot of work from home. Last night, I worked until late into the night. Tonight...no work from home! Yay! I was able to get some stitching in and relax, which was very important because I'm a bit nervous about a job interview I have tomorrow. It's for position in a hospital closer to my house which would be a promotion and pay raise and would be a fantastic opportunity for me and my family. Good thoughts and prayers are welcome!

So here is my progress on Tribal Penguin tonight:

As of 10/30/12

I think I'm going to alternate between this and May Lily of the Valley Teacup until they're done since this is a traveling pattern and the other has a deadline, and I don't want to keep either too long!

Not sure how much stitching will happen tomorrow since it's Halloween and I'll be bringing Merida (from Brave) and Spider-Man out to Trick-or-Treat in our new neighborhood...but that's definitely a good excuse for minimal stitching, don't ya think?

Until next time!
~Katy

No Stitching...Just Stashing!

So a last night of working from home combined with an unexpected trip to urgent care for my two year old who got a cut on his eyelid that wouldn't stop bleeding while taking a bath meant no stitching time for me today...however, the day wasn't a total loss! Look at all the pretty goodies I got in the mail today!

Beads!

Lots of Kreinik and a skein from The Gentle Art Sampler Floss Line

These are all of the beads and non-DMC flosses I need for my Crazy January Challenge pieces! Yay! I still have to collect the DMC threads and the fabrics, but these are definitely several check marks off of my to do list to prepare! Now I have to be on the eye out for an organization tool for all of those beads...don't want to lose them once I open them, that's for sure!

Here's to hoping more stitching will commence tomorrow! And all of you out on the East Coast, stay safe! My thoughts and prayers are with you, especially with my younger sister who lives in Brooklyn. Take care, all!

Until next time!
~Katy

March of the Penguins

Today I was able to put my first stitches into my traveling pattern, Tribal Penguin by White Willow Stitching:

Tribal Penguin - New Start 10/28/12

You can't tell how pretty the blue fabric is with the black on top of it in this picture, but trust me, it's truly lovely in person...like I'm creating a penguin floating on ice...

Because of work and family obligations, I wasn't able to do as much as I would like today, but I hope to make up for it this week! I'm very excited about this piece because I have been collecting penguins ever since my husband and I first started dating - it was an inside joke of ours regarding a comment made about him looking like a penguin when he wore a tux to bring my to my high school senior prom...yes, we've been together since I was 17 and he was 18...we celebrated 14 years together this past February and 10 years of marriage this past June! I have various penguins around my house, in paintings, in figurines, in Christmas ornaments, but this is my first cross stitch piece. I already think I know where I'm going to put it when I'm done, but we'll see!

I will also be sending this pattern on to another lucky recipient when I'm done with it, so keep an eye out for more information and this just may come to you next!

Until next time!
~Katy

Beauty and the Beast - End of Rotation Week

For some reason, I don't feel like I've done very much on this piece this week. Likely that is because work is extremely stressful right now and I'm either working late hours in the office or taking work home with me, which really cuts into my stitching time! Boo hiss! But hey, progress is progress, and this will come back up again soon enough!

Here is what Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love looked like at the beginning of the week:

Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love - Start of Rotation Week

And here is where we are at the end of the week (sorry for the not so great picture!):

Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love - End of Rotation Week 10/27/12

Well, maybe I got more done than I thought. Looking at the images side by side, there definitely was some progress this week. That is always a kind of funny thing - you may not feel like you've done anything, but when you really look, you can see what you did complete and get a definite sense of accomplishment!

Tomorrow I will hopefully start Tribal Penguin - I need to do some more work at home tomorrow and I also have a family obligation during the day, so we'll see if it gets started. Fingers crossed!

Until next time!
~Katy

TGIF!!

Brrr!! It's cold! Yesterday it was in the 70's and 80's here in Dallas, tonight we have a freeze warning...these 30+ or more degree temperature drops are not something I'm fond of! I'm just glad that it's Friday and even though I have work to do at home this weekend, I don't have to go to my office for two days...yay!

I did work some on Beauty and the Beast tonight. My main focus tonight was around the central portion of the sunset which is full of blending filament. I took the suggestion of doing the crosses and then going over them with the filament, so even though it doesn't necessarily look like a lot of progress, I pretty much did the same section twice!

As of 10/26/12

I tried to capture the sparkle, as it looks really pretty and really helps to centralize the growing portion of the sunset in the sky. Blending filament is hard to capture on film!

Hope you all have a wonderfully stitchy weekend!

Until next time!
~Katy

Stash and Progress!

After a very long day in a very long week, I had some lovely goodies waiting for me when I got home!

First, my beautiful Crystal EEK! fabric from Picture This Plus came today! It's just perfect for my Halloween piece, and I think the threads look great with it! Unfortunately the picture hardly does it justice...

My Witch's Brew Supplies

I also got my stash for Tribal Penguin for next week! Yay! I'm stitching this on 28-count hand dyed Jobelan in Summer Sky that I ordered from 123 Stitch!...I think the color is a very subtle icy blue and the threads will show up great on it! I'll wind the threads into bobbins before starting the pattern next week.

Tribal Penguin Supplies

 

I also made some more progress on Beauty and the Beast tonight. The thread tonight took me back towards the sunset. The way I'm stitching this is from the bottom right corner and out, building squares of stitches as I go. I'm currently working on the 4X4 square portion of the pattern. As I pick a thread in each square, I just take that thread as far as it goes. Sometimes it goes up to the castle, othertimes it goes towards the sunset, like tonight!

As of 10/25/12

I will leave you tonight with something non-stitchy related. I've shared a few pictures of my six year old daughter on this blog before, but today, I'm sharing my two year old son who tried on his Halloween costume tonight in preparation for his daycare party tomorrow. Look out! Here comes the Spider-Man!

Spider Man!

Until next time!

~Katy

I Hate Migraines

So yesterday morning, I woke up with a horrible migraine...the kind that feels like a sledgehammer was used to impale your skull with a battle axe type pain. I forced myself to go to work because we have a big review going on this week, but by the time I got home after another 10+ hour day, all of which was in pain, I was far, far too tired to do any stitching. I did pick it back up again for a little while tonight.

As of 10/24/12

I didn't stitch as much as I would like but I do have an excuse. I spent part of my typical stitching time going through my various charts for my Crazy January Challenge to figure out what threads and fabrics I needed and I went "shopping" in my stash to determine what I have already. I now have a list of what I need to get in order to be ready for January, which is an accomplishment!

I'm hoping I can get some more stitching done tomorrow! Fingers crossed!

Until next time!
~Katy

Look At That Sunset...

Or the start of it anyway! Tonight most of the stitching on Beauty and the Beast focused on the outer edges of the sunset in the picture:

As of 10/22/12

There is still a lot of sunset to come, but I liked the purple shades I worked with tonight! This was a very much needed relaxation outlet today after a very stressful day at work. I'm already ready for Friday, and I have four more equally stressful days to go! Wish me luck!

Until next time!
~Katy

World of Charity Stitching

Okay, one last quick post for the night...

Anyone who has been following my blog has seen my progress at various times for squares for World of Charity Stitching. This group of stitchers from around the world donate completed squares that are made into anything from quilts to bags to pillows to cards for children at Ronald McDonald House and seniors who may not have anyone looking out for them. I have contributed three squares thus far: Knotted Hearts and Have a Heart seen here with their fabrics and Birdhouse Neighborhood seen here with it's coordinating fabric. May Lily of the Valley Teacup will be my fourth contribution when it is done.

Tonight, Bonnie, one of our members who puts together these wonderful squares into beautiful quilts, posted pictures of the quilt tops for each of these quilts and I have to share them just to show you all how wonderful it is to see pieces come together to make a treasured gift for a complete stranger:

Birdhouse Quilt - My square is in the upper left corner!

Knotted Hearts Quilt - My square is the purple one, third square from the left, second row from the bottom

Have a Heart Quilt - My square is on the bottom row, second from the right

Aren't these quilts stunning? It really gives me an even greater sense of pride in my own finished projects when I see just how clearly they are just part of a greater whole! I highly encourage you to join WOCS - you pick what you want to stitch, which projects you want to join, whenever you wish to do them. It's a wonderful organization, and we would love to have you join us!

Until next time!
~Katy

A New Rotation Week and Preparing for January

Today began a new rotation week and Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love is back! As I do every week, I want to look back at where I was when I last worked on this piece:

Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love - Start of Rotation Week - Last Touched 9/15/12

I was able to do a little bit of stitching today. Not as much as I would have liked to close out IHSW, but any stitching is good stitching!

As of 10/21/12

I also spent some of the day preparing for the Crazy January Challenge for 2013 - 15 starts in the first 15 days of January with the goal of finishing all of the projects you start by the end of the year. I'm not sure I'll be able to do it, but I did finalize my 15 choices today and now I can spend the next couple of months kitting them up and getting ready to go for the new year. Want to see the choices? In no particular order as I have not yet decided on the order in which I will stitch them, my patterns are:

1. Angel of Compassion - Selina Fenech - Heaven and Earth Designs (page one for finish)

2. Butterfly Rose Cross - Brigid Ashwood - Heaven and Earth Designs (page one for finish)

3. Tuscan Greeting - Dimensions

4. Fall Fairy - Dimensions Gold Collection

5. Mediterranean Flavors - Dimensions

6. Wedding Sampler - Carolyn Manning (one of a kind design she made for me as a wedding gift 10+ years ago - time to stitch it!)

7. American Flag Quilt Sampler - Rosewood Manor

8. Sweet Pea Fairy - Joan Elliott

9. Stitching ABC - Design Works

10. Rapunzel - Joan Elliott

11. St. Peter's - John Clayton International by Heritage Stitchcraft

12. Winter Flowers Ornament - Turquoise Graphics & Designs

13. Garden of Joy Ornament - Turquoise Graphics & Designs

14. Celtic Christmas Ornament #4 - The Sunflower Seed

15. Butterfly Fairy - Joan Elliott

What do you think? Four of these are kits, the rest I need to work on gathering supplies for to kit up! I tried to have a mix of big and small projects, and I also have a few techniques in some of these that I haven't done before, like beading, and different types of finishes. I'm going to create another page to track my progress on these projects and I'm already thinking of ways to modify my rotation to add all of these in, but I have some ideas already! I can't wait to get started!

Until next time!
~Katy

End of the Rotation Week

Well I have to say I'm very pleased with myself. I was able to finish stitching the entire upper half of May Lily of the Valley Teacup. I have backstitching to do, but that will be done last for the entire piece:

May Lily of the Valley Teacup - End of Rotation Week - 10/20/12

Not bad for a week's work when this is an entirely new start! I'll pick this up again in a couple weeks to work on the bottom part of the cup and we'll see how far I get with that and maybe I'll be able to start the backstitching then too. We'll see!

Tomorrow, I pick up Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love again for the start of the new rotation week. Although it is International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, I'm not sure how much stitching I'll get done tomorrow as I do have some work I brought home this weekend that I will likely work on much of the day, but I know I'll get a few stitches in at night, at least!

Until next time!
~Katy

Another Late Night of Stitching

...means another early morning update post!

As of 10/19/12

I know that even if I stitched all day today, I won't finish this piece this week. I'm going to only push it down the list three spots instead of the very end, though, so I can go ahead and do my week of Beauty and the Beast starting next week and then I added Tribal Penguin as well since it's a traveling pattern and I just ordered the supplies for it today, otherwise I'd start it next week!

I hope you're having a great IHSW! I'm off to curl up with a nice cup of coffee, under my quilt with mindless TV and stitching in hand! Sounds like heaven to me!

Until next time!
~Katy

Oops, Forgot To Post!

Well, I didn't forget, I just was up too late last night since I am taking today off and was too tired to make a post last night showing the evening's progress...but here it is now!

As of 10/18/12

I finished the white portion of the flowers and did some of the inside of the teacup and am now working up to finish the rest of the flowers and leaves before working down on the rest of the cup. Today is the start of IHSW and I have the day off until I go to get the kids, so I plan on curling up with some trashy TV, relaxing and working on this a lot today! Come back tonight for another update!

Until next time!
~Katy

Lots of White

I'm not entirely sure why, but tonight, I was focused on the white portions of as many of the flowers as I could complete. There are still a few left, and it's hard to see the white on the fabric at this point, but here is my progress for the night:

As of 10/17

Tomorrow is my Friday at work since I'm taking off this Friday for a long weekend, plus it's International Hermit and Stitch Weekend this weekend, so I hope to make a lot more progress!

I also plan this weekend on going through my stash and wishlists at various places to decide what I'm going to do for the Cross Stitch Crazy 2013 event - 15 new starts the first 15 days of January with a goal of finishing the charts by the end of the year. Don't know if that's realistic, but I like the idea!

Until next time!
~Katy

Just A Quick Post

Two ten hour days at work in a row have taken a toll, but I did do some stitching tonight while watching the Presidential Debate:

As of 10/16/12

Tribal Penguin also came in the mail today! I am going to decide this weekend where to put this in the rotation since it's a traveling pattern and I also want to get some fabric for it. It somewhat depends on how far I get on this piece this week...we'll see how things work out!

Until next time!
~Katy

October TUSAL and More May Flowers

Can't believe it's already time for another TUSAL update! How the month has flown! But first, I made some more progress on May Lily of the Valley Teacup tonight.

As of 10/15/12

I didn't make as much progress tonight as I wanted, but it's been a very long day. I was happy to get a few stitches in, though!

Now for my TUSAL report! Here is my TUSAL jar as of last month:

TUSAL Jar - September 16, 2012

And here it is today!

TUSAL Jar - October 15, 2012

Definitely some more progress this month, though I think there was more added than what appears to have been added. This got knocked over by one of my kids, and that unsettled a lot of the threads and pushed them down a bit, but still, definite progress! Here are the views from the top:

TUSAL Jar - September 16, 2012

And tonight:

TUSAL Jar - October 15, 2012

What filled my TUSAL jar this month? Lots of things! Besides this week's rotation, Flames of Desire, European Bistro, Italian Vista, Christmas Countdown and even my daughter's Daisy Vest all contributed some threads this month! Can't wait to see what next month's jar looks like!

Until next time!
~Katy

P.S. - Go sign up for the Halloween Blog Hop hosted by Jo of Serendipitous Stitching! It should be a lot of fun!

April Showers Bring May Flowers...

Well, okay, I know it's not April, but we did have October thunderstorms in the middle of the night last night. That counts, right?

Today started a new rotation week, and I started working on May Lily of the Valley Teacup for the Teacup Quilt for World of Charity Stitching. I am so grateful for the recommendation to stitch this on 28 count over two rather than 14 count over one like I originally planned. This piece has SO MANY quarter crosses, and being able to stitch this over two has let me handle those quarter crosses much more neatly than I would have otherwise. This is also my first time to work with Jobelan, and I absolutely love it! I really think that my days with purposefully selecting Aida may be close to an end...

Here is the progress I made today. The white thread of several of the flowers is harder to see, but will be much more visible once I go back to do the backstitching:

May Lily of the Valley Teacup - New Start, New Rotation Week

I will be working on this piece all this week and depending likely will not move it all the way to the bottom of the rotation since it is for WOCS and there is a deadline for it. I figure I will do one week on, one week off until it's done. In the past, I worked on WOCS projects until they were completed, but with this one's deadline not until December, I can afford to keep working on my rotation otherwise!

Heading to bed now - I have to be at my office tomorrow morning by 6:30 for a half day, all management in the entire hospital meeting. I'm usually not at work until 8:30 or 9, so this will not be the most fun for me, nor my husband who will have to get both kids up and bring them both to school in the morning. We typically split the duties of getting them ready, with him bringing my daughter to school and I drop off my son at daycare, but everyone will still likely be sleeping at the point that I actually have to leave the house to get to the hospital. Oh well. Maybe I'll sneak out early tomorrow. We'll see...

Until next time!
~Katy

We Have A Winner!

But first...a little summary of my day and a look at my stitching, as it is the end of the rotation week, after all!

Today, I took the train to the State Fair of Texas with a troop of excited Daisies (and lots of Texas/OU fans, as the Red River Rivalry was at the Cotton Bowl today). We saw Big Tex (and even more Texas/OU fans), had a picnic lunch outside the Hall of State, enjoyed the impressive Girl Scouts 100th Anniversary Experience at the Fair, took part in a scavenger hunt all around the fair for a badge, talked to the Ford Automotive Robot (who talked to our troop and had everyone at the Auto Show cheer for our Girl Scouts), ate a delicious Deep Fried Samoa, navigated a lot of not too happy and rather intoxicated Texas fans spilling out of the Cotton Bowl while the game was going on, and then took the train home! We got lots of comments of admiration about our Daisies in their uniforms, and those bright blue vests and tunics were very visible in the sea of orange and maroon at the fair today. We had a wonderful time, though I must admit, I'm exhausted and hurting from all the walking tonight! I am out of shape. Don't get me wrong, stitching is my hobby to get me to relax, but it definitely doesn't keep me in shape!

Here are just a few pictures from today:

Girl Scouts Rule!

Inside the 100th Anniversary Experience

Ready to try some Deep Fried Samoas!

Deep Fried Samoas - YUMMY!!

After resting when we got home, having dinner, taking baths and putting the kids to bed, I sat down and did some more stitching tonight! Here is the progress I made tonight:

As of 10/13/12

 And here is how the frame looks in full as of tonight:

As of 10/13/12

 So since this is the end of the rotation week, let's look at how much progress I made this week! At the beginning of the week, Christmas Countdown looked like this:

Christmas Countdown - Start of Rotation Week

 And here is where I ended up this week:

Christmas Countdown - End of Rotation Week 11/13

Ornaments done, frame started - I think that's good progress this week! Tomorrow starts me working on my next WOCS contribution with May Lily of the Valley Teacup. I'm excited for the new start!

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for. We put all of the entries into a bowl tonight and before bed, my daughter picked a name out of the bowl! Sorry for not taking pictures, but congratulations to the big winner!

hkittypink from Stitchy Sam

Please send me an email (the address is on my profile) with the best email address to send your gift certificate to, and let me know your choice between 123 Stitch! or Heaven and Earth Designs. Congratulations!

Now I am off to bed! I hope you're all having a wonderfully stitchy weekend!

Until next time!
~Katy