More Than Halfway There!

I got another two and a half ornaments done tonight, which puts me at 13 1/2 ornaments out of 24 completed...woo hoo! I've passed the halfway mark!

Yay for Ornaments!

Tonight I added the lamb on wheels, the little soldier with a flag and about half of the gingerbread man. I have four more days of Christmas Countdown to go in this rotation. I think I can get all 24 done! That would be a very satisfying trip in this rotation!

Just a little plug...Take a peek at all of the great giveaways listed on my blog. There are some really generous and wonderful giveaways that other bloggers are doing. Go, sign up, follow some great new blogs, and tell them that Katy from Just A Little Stitchin' sent you!

Hope you're all having a great week! Until next time!
~Katy

Two More Ornaments

Just a very quick post because it's late...I wanted to do a lot more stitching today, but seriously hurting my upper back and neck really made stitching difficult, so I only got two more ornaments done today. If there's one thing you'll learn about me, I'm a klutz and can hurt myself just by sitting down...drives my husband crazy...

Added the Angel and the Train and the Berries on the Stocking

Here's hoping tomorrow after work is better. I'd really like to finish all of the ornaments this week while on the rotation so that I can start with the actual calendar next rotation.

Until next time!
~Katy

Christmas Countdown, Giveaway and More!

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a a great weekend! As I do every Sunday, I picked up the next piece in my rotation, which this week is the long neglected Christmas Countdown by Dimensions. I picked up this kit shortly after I finished my son's stocking in 2010, but I was in a stitching burnout, especially when it came to Christmas, so after completing just a few ornaments, I put it to the side...and didn't pick up a needle until a couple of months ago...

So this is where I started at today. The ornaments are all on plastic canvas, and I wanted to get them all done before starting the actual calendar because when we get through with the calendar, I'm going to work on figuring out the attachment method of the ornaments to the calendar and wanted to have them on hand!

Six Completed Ornaments

And here is where I am today!

Nine Completed Ornaments as of 9/2/12

I got a few more of the ornaments done but have a long way to go...there are 24 in all, after all! These take a little time because I also stop to do all backstitching and details in each ornament before I move on to the next one. Of course, as I'm looking at this picture, I'm realizing I forgot to do the french knot berries in the stocking...oh well, I'll do that tomorrow.

I also went out today and took advantage of the Joann's sale on DMC floss. I decided that the next two HAED's I'll eventually work on are Angel of Compassion and Butterfly Rose Cross (pictures of both are here), so I went through my stash, figured out what I had and what I needed and came home with this:

That's A Lot Of Floss!

There were still a few skeins I wasn't able to purchase, believe it or not, because the store was out of those colors, but I have 99% of the floss I'll need when I get to the point where I'm ready to start my next HAED. I also picked up several bobbins of Krenik floss for these patterns and was able to use a 40% off one item coupon and a 15% off your entire purchase coupon. I won't be working on these patterns for awhile, but who could pass up a deal like that? They are all now all divided up between each piece in a big plastic freezer bag.. I'm not even going to try to wind them on bobbins until I'm ready to start the projects!

I also bought the fabric while I was at Joann's today to go with Birdhouse Neighborhood for World of Charity Stitching. This piece is now in the mail and on it's way to become part of a beautiful quilt!

Birdhouse Neighborhood and Fabric

I noticed today that I'm up to 41 followers! Woo hoo! I love having you guys here and reading your comments and following your blogs! To follow in the tradition of so many blogs, when I reach 50 followers, I plan on having a giveaway! What's the prize? I haven't decided yet, but I do have an idea...just wait and see!

Tomorrow is Labor Day here in the states, and I plan on spending a lot of time stitching! Have to take advantage of the day off!

Until next time!
~Katy

End of Another Rotation Week

Well, today was my last day of working on Flames of Desire for this rotation. I'm really proud of the progress I made this week, especially since it was a new start!

As of 9/1/12

I didn't get as much done today as I had originally hoped namely because I spent the day with my husband driving all over the place to buy this:

My New Ride! A 2012 Mazda5 Grand Touring

My old 2004 Hyundai Sonata had 170K+ miles on it, a crumpled up front bumper from where I lost a battle with a wooden post when we were moving, and on Friday as I was driving home, suddenly it decided to shift into third gear on its own and got stuck there. It's just not a safe car to drive anymore and we've pretty much driven it to the ground, so now I have a nice, pretty car with more room for our family and I'm so excited! I think this was a good excuse to not be stitching today, though I do plan on driving this beauty to Joann's tomorrow to take advantage of the DMC sale if there is any left!

Tomorrow, I'm going to finally pick up my neglected Christmas Countdown once more...which was a hard decision to make because I got this treat in my mail today:

Temptation!

The piece is called Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love and the original painting that is the inspiration for this piece is by Thomas Kinkade. The piece itself is part of the Disney Dreams Collection by Candamar Designs, and there are some truly lovely pieces in there for the Disney fan. My daughter, the princess fanatic, picked this out as the piece she wants me to work on for her and I was sorely tempted to push Christmas Countdown off for another week and start this one tomorrow, but I'm going to be good and wait and put this in the rotation to start on after Christmas Countdown.

Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday weekend!
~Katy

August Update and September Goals

TGIF...or is it Saturday Already? I'm dealing with a bout of insomnia tonight, so though this is my Friday update, it's already well into Saturday...I think my kids are going to make me pay for this in the morning!

First, I wanted to start with my progress on Flames of Desire. One more day on this piece and then it will go back into the rotation! I'm really enjoying this one, though, and it's really made me a huge fan of HAED!

As of 8/31/12

Depending on how long my husband and I are out unexpectedly car shopping tomorrow (my car started having major issues tonight), I hope to make some more good progress on the piece until I put it back in the rotation! Regardless, this has been a joy to work on this week and I'm already starting to think of what HAED I want to start next and have literally well over 300 charts in my wishlist!

It's also time once again to look at how I did on my goals for August and set goals for September!


August Goals
- Complete birdhouse project for WOCS that I've signed up for - Done! I just need to buy the fabric for it and ship it this weekend!

Birdhouse Neighborhood

- Pull out Christmas Countdown and complete at least half of the remaining ornaments - Not Done - I pulled it out, but did not stitch on it this month. It's next on my rotation, though!

- Start European Bistro - Done!

European Bistro as of August 6, 2012

- Make more progress with Italian Vista - Done!

Italian Vista As Of July 31, 2012

Italian Vista As Of 8/25/12

All in all, a rather successful month goal wise! So now it's time to set the goals for September!

September Goals
- Christmas Countdown - Finish all ornaments and move to the fabric piece (should be doable, as it's going to be my focus in my next rotation)
- Flames of Desire - Finish Page 1
- Purchase at least one chart during HAED Appreciation Week
- Decide on and kit up my next project to be started after I finish Page 1 of Flames of Desire
- Work on European Bistro
- Work on Italian Vista

Whew, that's a lot, but only a few of those goals are specific! We'll see what I do over the next month! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a safe holiday!

Until next time!
~Katy