Christmas Countdown and TUSAL

I had a hard time finding my stitchy bug yesterday. I've noticed that tends to happen after I finish a piece, I need almost a day to recover, so to speak, before picking up the needle again. Not sure why that is...

I did settle down last evening, though, and went ahead and picked up Christmas Countdown to work on.

I was able to work on this piece without having much stitching mojo going on because I'm still working on the border, which is a pretty easy, mindless stitch, and I'm really happy I did because not only was I getting my mojo back by the time it was time to go to bed, I made some good progress, too!

I was able to make it to the top left corner and round it, plus add some more red along the top. Yay!

It's also time to show off my ORT's for this month's TUSAL report!

My ORT bowl is definitely full of all sorts of pretty threads! I love the colors of all of my projects mixed into one!

Until next time!
~Katy

More Blocks of Color

But not blue this time! I worked on Christmas Countdown yesterday.

I was able to lose myself in more meditative stitching of the red border but that was after I got the green line to go all the way to the edge where it meets the upper left 'button' section. It definitely will make it easier to fill in the blue, yellow and red bits to the end of that line.

Sorry that the picture is a bit uneven - it wasn't lying on a completely flat surface when I took it. I definitely am getting close to turning another corner with this piece! Yay!

Until next time!
~Katy

Christmas Countdown

Just a quick post today. I'm fighting a nasty dizzying migraine that I'm really hoping fades soon now that I've taken my meds and am drinking lots of caffeine. Gotta love nasty weather fronts and my PMDD both joining forces to make my head feel like it's going to explode.

I worked on Christmas Countdown yesterday:

I've turned the corner on the border and am working on the top now:

I think I've decided that I'll do all the backstitching of the border once I finish stitching it before delving into the top and bottom of the piece.

Until next time!
~Katy

Christmas Countdown

Yesterday I was able to put some time into Christmas Countdown:

It's not a great picture, sorry about that. I'm stubborn about finishing the border around the entire piece before I start either the top or bottom. The nice thing about this piece is that the border doesn't require a lot of thought. And even though there are big blocks of color, there are four colors I can switch around once I get bored of one color or the next. I'm happy with the progress, since I made it up to the top right corner yesterday!

I have a crazy busy day of errands and chores so I won't be able to get started on my next new start until tonight, but I'm looking forward to it as my reward for the day!

Until next time!
~Katy

Bad, Bad Blogger...

I've been such a bad blogger of late...not due to a lack of things to post about or a desire to post, but more a lack of energy! Of course, I'm saying that at 12:09 AM when I should be sound asleep in bed, but I'm wide awake...so time to get caught up!

I haven't been stitching every day, but I have been continuing with the March Madness theme this month (a full update on that to come on Friday, hopefully!), so I have lots of different pieces I've been working on!

Since my last update, I worked some more on the border for Christmas Countdown and went from this:

to this:

As of 3/9/13

Then I moved on to American Flag Quilt Sampler and went from this:

To this:

As of 3/12/13

Then it was on to Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love:

which grew to this:

As of 3/13/13

And then finally there is Celtic Christmas Ornament #4, which started here:

and ended here:

As of 3/14/13

Not a bad bit of stitching progress if I do say so myself! I've also discovered a new vendor on facebook who is making some really beautiful hand dyed floss for incredibly reasonable prices! I mean, look at all of these beauties!

Floss!

Really, this picture doesn't do these gorgeous threads justice! Do I have pieces for them right now? No, but I love having them for my stash! Head on over to Mo's Sale on facebook (you'll have to join a group) to see these colors and more!

I also late on posting my TUSAL this month, but here we go!

Last month:

This month:

Last month:

This month:

That's a lot of thread! I love seeing all of the colors build up bit by bit!

Whew, now that is a pretty extensive update! That's what I get for not blogging more regularly! Hopefully life will slow down a bit and I won't get this far behind again!

Until next time!
~Katy

Christmas Break

I think it's safe to say that Christmas and family will consume my week this week with my sister in town and all the fun things that go on during the holidays, so I am going to be officially taking a stitching break until January 1st when I start the Crazy January Challenge! I just need to print out my last few remaining patterns and I'm good to go! I can hardly wait!

Christmas Countdown has been put away until it's next turn in the rotation. Here is where we started this week:

Christmas Countdown - Start of Rotation Week - 12/16/12

And here's where we ended the week:

Christmas Countdown - End of Rotation Week - 12/22/12

Not as much progress as I would have liked, but I blame sickness and holidays. Hopefully next time I can make more progress! I definitely think I'm going to start on more of the scene on the top half of the pattern next time, though...the red bored me quickly and it proved hard to be motivated to do much else with it, especially with the other craziness going on in my life!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas filled with love, laughter and happiness and that 2013 is a wonderful year for you! See you on January 1st!

Until next time!
~Katy

The World Hasn't Ended Yet...

And I don't think it's going to...whew, that was close!! ;-)

Again, life has been crazy this week...it's hard to believe we only have a single handful of days left until Christmas! I have too much wrapping left to do! Ack!

I have a couple of night's worth of progress to share tonight...lots and lots of red.

Here is where I ended last night:

As of 12/19/12

And here's where I am tonight:

As of 12/20/12

Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm going to do much else on this piece this week. Tomorrow night and Saturday are my days to get ready for our family Christmas Eve-Eve party on Sunday, and I want to have all of my wrapping done, all laundry put away, and the house completely ready when I go to bed on Saturday night...stitching may not happen while I tend to that! We'll see! This has kinda been a flop of a stitching week, anyway!

Until next time
~Katy

Sorry I've Been Quiet

Life has been insane of late...new job...Christmas preparations...dealing with the last days of school for my daughter...and being sick on top of it all has made time for both stitching and blogging scarce of late. I did get a few stitches into Christmas Countdown last night, though...

As of 12/17/12

 Mindless stitching of the border has its benefits and its downfalls...on the plus side, since I'm tired and not feeling great, knowing that I just have to do lots and lots of red for the moment is an easy and relaxing process. On the down side, it's not exciting, which sometimes makes it hard to get motivated to do it. I think the next time I pick this piece up, I may do some of the stitching of the scene rather than finish the outlining of the frame as I had planned. This week, though, all I have the mental capacity for is the mindless stitching, so red border it is!

I plan on sitting down with it again tonight after I finish Christmas Cards...wish me luck!

Until next time!
~Katy

I Hate Being Sick

Thursday night, I didn't feel that great...Friday, the weather front completely settled over my house and made me miserable enough to go to the urgent care clinic after Girl Scouts, and yesterday I was resting off and on most of the day. It is International Hermit and Stitch Weekend, and so far, it's been primarily hermiting and not a lot of stitching. The only thing I really felt up to when I was awake was a few stitches here and there...I actually made more progress than I thought, but here is the final report on Flames of Desire for this rotation week.

I started here:

Flames of Desire - Start of Rotation Week - 12/9/12

And ended here:

Flames of Desire - End of Rotation Week - 12/15/12

I'm definitely into the second page now, and there is a lot more to work on in this second page, so I'm going to take the rest of the page by columns. I'm kind of sad to put it away because I don't think it got the love it deserved this week since I was sick, but it will come back again soon enough.

This week is going to be filled with the hustle and bustle of finalizing things for Christmas...I plan on working on Christmas cards today (I usually have them out WELL before this, but oh well, I've been sick), ordering the last gifts I need to get, and start wrapping what I have. We have a big family party scheduled for a week from today, so I want to make sure I have everything ready to go!

It is appropriate, then, that the piece I'm working on this week is Christmas Countdown! And luckily, right now, I'm really working on mindless border stitching. I think that's actually a good thing this week - between my already packed meeting schedule at work and getting ready for Christmas, I think mindless stitching is just the kind of stitching I'll need! Here is where Christmas Countdown stands as of this morning:

Christmas Countdown - Start of Rotation Week

Ornaments are done, so it's just the border I'll be working on this week. Maybe if I'm luckily I'll finish the border! We'll see! Mindless stitching can also be fast stitching!

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!

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

More Border, Girl Scouts, and Giveaway Reminder

So I had more time today than I anticipated to stitch! My son had an ENT checkup today (just following up on his tube surgery back in February), so I got home earlier than normal. After a brief nap, I was able to get several things accomplished today!

First, I was able to get all of the patches sewn onto my Daisy's uniform in anticipation of our field trip to the State Fair of Texas tomorrow where there will be a huge 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts exhibit and scavenger hunt. We're looking forward to it!

The Front of my Daughter's Daisy Vest as of 10/12/12

The Back of my Daughter's Daisy Vest as of 10/12/12

She's going to look great walking around Fair Park tomorrow with her uniform full of awards she's earned. Even if it is Texas/OU football weekend, which if you're not from Texas is a HUGE, annual game that always takes place during the State Fair, we should still have a blast with her troop! I am going to try to spend a few extra minutes in the exhibit hall that houses all of the arts and crafts entries to see what cross-stitch inspiration I can find! A few people who are members of various cross-stitching groups on Facebook have talked about having pieces entered, and I always enjoying seeing what won each year!

Once the vest was finished and after dinner was eaten and kids put to bed, I was able to settle down with Christmas Countdown. Not only did I get the red border finished in the space available in the hoop:

Look at all that red!

 But I also went ahead and moved the hoop over and extended the red of the middle divider of the frame out on the right side all the way to where the right hand border will begin.

Even More Red!

Depending on how tired I am tomorrow after wrangling nine first graders at the fair, I will try to make some more progress on this piece before putting it away for this rotation week.

Also, one last reminder that tomorrow is the drawing for my Fifty Follower Giveaway! Amazingly, I've gone well over fifty followers since the giveaway was announced, which I think is awesome! If you haven't entered yet, now's your chance, as my daughter will be drawing the winner's name tomorrow after we get home from the fair. Check back tomorrow to see if you win!

Until next time!
~Katy

Just Keep Stitching...

I feel a little like Dory from Finding Nemo...Just keep stitching, just keep stitching! I worked more on the red band of the border tonight:

As of 10/11/12

 It was another good night for mindless stitching while I sipped a glass of wine and watched the Vice Presidential debate...and not to get political, as I don't really care who you vote for so long as you vote, but "malarkey" is now one of my new favorite words...

I'm not sure how much more red I'll get done tomorrow. I'm taking my daughter's Daisy troop to the State Fair of Texas on Saturday, and she just received some badges at our last meeting that I want to get stitched on her vest before we go. We'll see how long that takes!

Until next time!
~Katy

Seeing Red

The great thing about large blocks of color with no variation to it is that you can stitch and not worry about counting so much! It's the perfect stitching project for watching a movie or drinking a glass of wine with...not that I know about that or anything! ;-)

Here is the beginning of the band of red in the middle of the frame that splits Santa's workshop up top from the calendar at the bottom:

As of 10/10/12

It's my hope to get this band completed by the end of the rotation. Technically, there are still a couple of outstanding bands of blue and yellow on either side of this current piece, but the hoop just wasn't large enough. I figure if I can finish the red band where it stands now, I'll just pick one side or the other to finalize the middle on that side and then work my way around the frame and complete the missing portion of this band on the other side when I get around to it. Works for me!

Until next time!
~Katy

Lots of Border...

I haven't even started on the red yet and I know this is going to be a very border heavy piece! Here is the progress I made tonight. I was drinking a nice glass of wine to wind down the day while I was doing this and while I was lucky enough to not be visited by any frogs, I definitely was slower moving! Ha!

As of 10/9/12

Tomorrow I will start working on the red border that is beneath these rows, and trust me, there's a lot! I have a sinking feeling that this piece will be a struggle for me to stay focused on when it comes up in the rotation, but I have to keep telling myself that I absolutely love the end result (and I do), so if I want that for myself (and I do), I just need to keep pressing on! it's times like this I'm thankful for having a rotation - if I didn't, I likely wouldn't work on this piece regularly like I do now! So I'll keep plugging along, knowing I have an end goal!

Hope you're all having a great week!

Until next time!
~Katy