Last TUSAL of 2012

No stitching tonight - being far too tired with a sinus headache and an inability to concentrate did not lend itself to stitching tonight, but I did want to share my TUSAL for the month, especially since it's the last TUSAL of the year!

As always, I'll start off with my TUSAL jar from last month. Here is where we were in November:

TUSAL Jar - November 13, 2012

And here is my last TUSAL for the year:

TUSAL Jar - December 13, 2012

And from the top! Here is November:

TUSAL Jar - November 13, 2012

And December:

TUSAL Jar - December 13, 2012

I bet you know where all those pretty oranges and reds on the top are from! In fact, I added ORT's this month from not only Flames of Desire, but also Tribal Penguin, My Witch's Brew, European Bistro, and Italian Vista. So, now the question becomes, what to do with all of these ORT's...six months worth to be exact...and I knew the perfect answer!

My 2012 TUSAL ORT ornament! Isn't it pretty?? I got all those ORTs compacted into one ornament and I think it's just beautiful! I love seeing the colors of the threads, especially those from earlier projects that I haven't worked on because they were completed a long time ago. It's already hanging on my tree and this will definitely be a new tradition every year!

Thank you for all of your kind comments on my Advent Calendar Blog Post - I love those stockings and I'm glad you do too!

Until next time!
~Katy

A Lazy, Stitch Filled Day and Unexpected Giveaway

So I am off of work this week. I ended my old job this past Friday and start my new one a week from today and this week, I'm just relaxing...well, not just relaxing, I have a lot of personal things to do like get the house ready for the holidays, finish my shopping, get Christmas cards out, etc., but it's a definite respite to clear my mind from one job before I begin the next.

Today is the one day I had absolutely nothing planned, so once the hubby was off to work and the kids were off to school, I relaxed. I spent a couple of hours working on bobbinating my threads for the Crazy January Challenge (almost done!) and I also put some good time into Italian Vista today:

As of 12/3/12

I'm  loving the pinks in the flowers! I love the colors of this piece overall, but the pinks really stand out among the blues, greens and browns. I'm very pleased!

Also, I was contacted today by the winner of my Traveling Tribal Penguin giveaway. Come to find out, she had actually ordered the piece from overseas herself and had forgotten about it until it arrived today! Luckily, she contacted me before I made a trip to the post office so I am able to pick another person to receive the pattern, and that lucky person is....

Christine from The Alchymyst's Study!

Congratulations! I'll contact you for mailing information!

Until next time!
~Katy

Girl's Night!

I haven't had a chance to stitch today, though I'm hoping I might have a chance before I go to bed...but I do know that I won't get a chance to post again as I'm going to bring my kids over to see my siblings while they're in town and then me, my younger sister, my mom, my three aunts (Mom's sisters), my oldest female cousin and my grandmother are all getting together for a girl's night..my youngest aunt is only 9 years older than me, so she's more my big sister, and most of my younger cousins think I'm an aunt because of our age difference. We're a close knit family and I'm looking forward to getting all the girls together!

But because I did promise a drawing today for Tribal Penguin, I wanted to make sure I posted before I was taken away for the day! And the winner is....

Linda from Stitchin with my Furbabies!

Congrats, Linda! Can't wait to see your progress!

Oh, I did take advantage of the HAED Thanksgiving sale and bought the last Birthstone Fairy I needed for our family's birthstones - Citrine for my husband (whose birthday was yesterday!)

Citrine Birthstone Fairy by Rachel Anderson

 Any pictures of any stitching I get done today will be posted tomorrow. And I'm excited that I'll be back to European Bistro starting next week - it's been awhile!

Until next time!
~Katy

Another Finish and Another Giveaway

I did it! Two finishes in two weeks! That doesn't happen often and won't happen again for a long while, I don't imagine, but Tribal Penguin is finished!

Tribal Penguin - 10/28/12 - 11/17/12

I'm really pleased with how this piece turned out and loved working on it! But now, it's time for me to give it away and give the joy of this pattern to someone else! The rules for this giveaway are simple. Respond to this post indicating your interest to receive the traveling pattern and one week from today, I will draw a name to determine the lucky recipient! Easy peasy!

Until next time!
~Katy

Lots of Stuff

I have so much to post about, I'm not even sure where to begin! How about we start with this:

The Liebster Award

Sarah over at Sarah In Stitches was so kind as to award me with the Liebster award! I love her blog, she is the reason I'm going to be starting on the American Flag Quilt Sampler next year, and it just made my day to have her think of me for this award. Thank you, Sarah!

The rules of the Liebster Award are simple. You must thank the person who awarded it to you, paste the Liebster Award on your blog, pick 5 blogs with less than 200 followers (which is harder than it sounds!), and leave them each a comment on their blogs letting them know the good news! So without further ado and in no particular order, here are my five!

Chelle at The Next Best Stitch - she has done some beautiful work and has such a giving spirit and huge heart, which I know has been hurting of late, but it's clear her heart is always in her work.

Sharine at charbella stitching - I adore watching her HAED progress and everything I have seen on her blog just makes me smile!

Amanda from Samplers, Silks and Linens - her sampler pieces are stunning, and I have a soft spot for a fellow mom of a six year old teaching her daughter to follow in her crafty footsteps, just like I'm doing with mine!

Karen at My Stitchy Ramblings - Her Friday Hunks are sure addictive, but her stitching is always beautiful - I just love seeing all of her Round Robin progress!

Megan at Stitchings of an Army Wife - I have great admiration for the spouses of those who serve, and I am always looking forward to watching her progress on QS Clara!

Whew! That was not easy, and there are so many blogs I love so much. Thanks again, Sarah!

Let's see, what else...oh, it's International Hermit and Stitch Weekend! Yay! Tomorrow, I've already promised my daughter a Mommy/Daughter date to the mall, but after we get home from that, I plan on hermitting and stitching the rest of the weekend. We have the holiday coming up next week, but I'm not sure just how much stitching I'll get to do while we visit my in-laws, so I'd like to make progress on my new start next week before I go!

But before I can work on my new start, I have Tribal Penguin to finish up! I finished the white crosses and back stitching tonight. Just the rest of the black to go and then I'll be finished!

Almost Done!

This is a traveling pattern, so as soon as I am done with it I'll be making a post to find out who wants it next and depending on the interest, will likely do a drawing to find out who this will be going to next!

Whew, that's a long post after a long week at work with the process of resigning and starting to transition my responsibilities, plus a crazy Girl Scout meeting tonight. Bed is definitely calling my name!

Until next time!
~Katy

Just a Quick Post

I worked on bobbinating (such a fun word) a lot of my skeins for my Crazy January Challenge tonight and didn't stitch as much as I have the last few nights, but there is progress!

As of 11/15/12

I'm almost done with the white on the penguin, then just the back stitching and the remaining black and I'm done! I will definitely have this done by the end of this rotation week, I promise you!

Until next time!
~Katy

Getting Closer

I have to admit, at the beginning of this rotation week, I was being somewhat facetious about having two finishes in two weeks. I really didn't expect Tribal Penguin to be stitching up as fast as it is this week, even with my own additional back stitching thrown in (thank you for the positive feedback about that, by the way - I think it's looking awesome)! But after tonight, with three more evenings left to go (and perhaps more time on Saturday than just the evening since it is IHSW and all), I really do think I will finish this piece this week!

As of 11/14/12

I have a tiny bit of black and white left on the bottom of the penguin before I move to the second page of the pattern, which is very small. Fingers crossed I will get this finished this week after all!

Until next time!
~Katy

November TUSAL and Tribal Penguin

There is just something that makes me smile when I can look on my blogroll on the side of my blog and see all sorts of fun pictures of different TUSAL posts! So of course, I have to make my own contribution!

Here is my TUSAL jar from October:

TUSAL Jar - October 15, 2012

And here is November's TUSAL:

TUSAL Jar - November 13, 2012

And from the top! October:

TUSAL Jar - October 15, 2012

And November:

TUSAL Jar - November 13, 2012

This month, I have ORT's from Beauty and the Beast Falling in Love, May Lily of the Valley Teacup, and of course those black and white threads right on top are from Tribal Penguin, which I worked on again tonight! I tested some of the suggestions with other colors or other defining techniques. I didn't like them as much and decided instead to do the hard outline of the white of the belly. I like the way it makes it pop out from the fabric and provides definition, but it's also making me think about outlining the black as well. I'm going to wait until I finish the piece entirely before making that decision.

Here is how it looks tonight:

As of 11/13/12

Can you tell I'm having fun playing with Instagram? And I'm 13/13 as of this post for NaBloPoMo!  Yay!

Until next time!
~Katy

We Have A Face!

First, thank you everyone for your kind words about my turning in my notice. I told my boss and our lead coordinator today. The rest of the team will be told tomorrow. Both of them handled it well, but are clearly panicking...which I expected, but it is what it is.

I made a lot of progress on Tribal Penguin tonight! I'm playing with Instagram for my pictures, and here's my first 'test' subject...

We have a face!

As you can see, we made it to the face tonight and I started working on the white belly. I'm thinking I may need to outline the white because it's hard to see against the fabric, even close up when I have it in hand. I'll make a decision when I have more of the white completed, but would like to hear your thoughts as well!

Until next time!
~Katy

March of the Penguins

It's the start of a new rotation week! I'm going to keep this post short and sweet as my stomach is a wreck tonight, primarily from nerves about turning in my notice tomorrow, but regardless, I want to just lay down and go to bed. But I wanted to post this first!

Tribal Penguin is up this week. To refresh your memory, here is where we last left the pretty penguin:

Tribal Penguin - Start of Rotation Week - Last Touched 11/3/12

And here it is tonight!

As of 11/11/12

Good progress if I do say so myself! I'm going to go crash and try to sleep, now, and hopefully will be able to shake off this knot in my stomach. Wish me luck!

Until next time!
~Katy

End of Rotation Week and More Stash!

Today was a lovely day. I had a phone interview (primarily personality based conducted by a third party firm), and I went to three craft stores (JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby and Michael's, all within a block of each other) and I got all but three of my DMC threads needed for my Crazy January Challenge! I only missed those three because I forgot to put them on the list...d'oh! I also got some storage boxes for threads and a new one for beads since I'm now amassing a bit of a collection of that! Want to see how much DMC I picked up today?

Lots of DMC!

Now, many of the colors in this pile are repeats. Some of that is because some patterns require multiple skeins of the same color, and other repeats are because the same color is required in multiple charts. I have learned over the years that I prefer to have a separate bobbin of each color for each project I'm working on - so if three projects each call for a skein of the same color, I will buy three skeins of that color. It's not the most financially prudent way to stitch, perhaps, but I prefer to have a bobbin dedicated to each project so I don't forget which project I put a specific color with. Besides, it will just add to my stash for next time if I have any left over! I have already divided these up among each of the patterns and just have to collect the three orphans I forgot on my list and start winding these puppies up! I figure if I do a few each day, I will have them all wound up by the time January rolls around.

The three boxes in the top part of this picture are more thread boxes that I will use to organize the threads for my CJC pieces - I already have two others with the HAED patterns in them. The box on the right is my new bead organizer box! I had to order lots of Mill Hill beads for several of my CJC projects, and I wanted a place to store them all. I got this box with containers in the jewelry section of Michael's and I love it!

Beads!

Each container screws into the container above it for a stack of five containers per group, with the top container having a lid to attach to it. I wrote the code for each bead on the other side of the containers so I know what is what, but I love this! I think this is a great way for me to store my beads, and I still have plenty of room to add more later on:

Room to grow!

Today is also the end of another rotation week. Tribal Penguin will be put to the side for the next week so I can work on my next piece, but it will be back the week after so that I can try to finish it and send it on it's way to another lucky recipient. Here's where I ended up this week:

Tribal Penguin - End of Rotation Week - 11/3/12

Not nearly as much was completed this week as I would have liked, but I had an extremely busy week work wise and that really hampered my stitching. Hopefully this next week will be better!

Until next time!
~Katy

Who Can Resist A Sale?

Especially a 50% off sale at Heaven and Earth Designs?? I certainly can't...and my stash grew by five charts today!

Atlantis - Linda Ravenscroft

Lancelot and Guenevere - Selina Fenech

Pearl Birthstone Fairy - Rachel Anderson

Sistine Chapel Ceiling - Michelangelo

Christine - Aimee Stewart

All of these have special meanings to me or call to me for some reason.

I'm really loving the individual figures by Linda Ravenscroft, and Atlantis is not the first in this style from her I've gotten (as evidenced here, here and here and several selections on my HAED wishlist).

Lancelot and Guenevere was actually the first HAED pattern I ever saw on a blog that got me hooked up with the site in the first place and I am a huge fan of Arthurian legend.

Pearl is my daughter's birthstone - I already have Emerald for me and my son, just need to get Citrine for my husband to round out the collection!

The Sistine Chapel Ceiling is absolutely stunning in person. I've had the pleasure of seeing it twice in person and it's taken my breath away both times. I have a poster of this we got when my husband and I were last in Rome, but I would love to stitch it. I also want to get the sister piece, The Last Judgement, which is in the Sistine Chapel as well.

Christine is part of a Phantom of the Opera mask series from Aimee Stewart and Phantom of the Opera is tied with Les Miserables for my favorite musical of all time. I want to also get Think of Me to go along with it, even if that means I now have that song in my head...Think of me...Think of me fondly when we say goodbye....ahem, anyway...

Will I ever get all of these plus what I have in my stash plus what I still have on my wishlist ever done? Who knows...but part of the fun of this hobby is collecting beautiful things to have to choose from when the urge strikes, and I love all of my new pretty pieces! Now, I just need to stay off of the website until the sale passes to resist the urge to buy more! Ha ha!

Tonight's stitching was minimal...it was a long day (week) at work, and we had Girl Scouts tonight, which takes up most of my time and energy on meeting days. I did get a little bit done, though, and I plan on getting more done tomorrow before putting it down for a week.

As of 11/2/12

I do have a one hour phone "personality test" interview tomorrow for the job I'm applying for...and a four hour mega interview this coming Thursday with other directors, senior leadership and medical leadership...all good signs, but please keep the good thoughts coming!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Until next time!
~Katy

It's November Already?!?!

Where the heck did 2012 go?? I can't believe it's already November! Guess it's time to review my goals for October and make new goals for November!

 October Goals
- Continue working through my rotation Yes! There were  few new entries to it, but I definitely stuck to the rotation
- Choose and complete one WOCS project Partial - I chose and started one project, but haven't finished it yet
- Start a new Halloween themed piece no later than 10/31! No - I have one selected, and it's in my rotation, I just haven't started it yet

November Goals
- Successfully participate and complete NaBloPoMo and make a blog post every day in the month of November - I'm pretty good about this already, I think I can do it!
- Finish and mail off May Lily of the Valley Teacup for WOCS
- Finish and mail off the rotating pattern of Traveling Penguin
- Purchase all of the remaining thread and fabric for my Crazy January Challenge to finish kitting up my projects

Some reasonable goals this month I think! What are your goals for the month?

Oh! I was excited to learn that I won the giveaway at Tickled Pink in Stitches! I'm very excited! And there is another FANASTIC giveaway from Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe! Seriously, tons of amazingly generous giveaway items, every day from December 1st through December 25! Sign up and tell them that Katy/Tadamama from Just A Little Stitchin' sent you!

I made some more progress on Tribal Penguin tonight...right in line with my goals!

As of 11/1/12

 A couple more days in this rotation and we'll see how far we get! I'm just glad the weekend is almost here, it's been a long week!

Until next time!
~Katy

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

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

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

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

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

Sparkly Thread and Stitchy Goodies!

So I have entered the first part of the Kreinik thread on Flames of Desire tonight. The sparkly part of the moon is so pretty, even if the picture doesn't do it justice:

Pretty Sparkly Thread!

I haven't had as many problems working with it at this point as I hear about frequently, crossing my fingers it stays that way!

I had some great goodies in my mail when I got home tonight from Pickle Barrel Designs!

Some Great Patterns from Pickle Barrel Designs

Thank you so much for these awesome patterns! I love them!

I also won my first traveling pattern from Jan over at Stitching Cats! The pattern is The Tribal Penguin by White Willow Stitching. Penguins are a special thing for me and my husband, and have been since we started dating. I have several penguins I have collected over the years in Christmas ornaments, decorative figurines, even a painting from Florence when we visited in college. I can't wait until I get it! It will definitely go into my rotation right away so that I can stitch it and send the pattern on it's way to another lucky person!

I've ordered my thread and fabric for my next two starts, so hopefully I'll have more goodies in the mail soon! All in all a good stitchy day!

Until next time!
~Katy