Santa was very, very good to me...

I must have been exceptionally good this past year because Santa really came through on Christmas.  I got a trip to Las Vegas, a beautiful sterling silver heart necklace, while in Vegas I found a great needle work store by the name of Stitcher’s Paradise owned by Nancy Livesay and Gina Schafer.  The plan was to take some of my slot winnings and purchase a never before owned stash of fancy fabrics,  well when it came time to pay Santa Hubby swooped in with magic plastic wand.  I got ¼ yd of two over dyed Jobelans: Babbling Brook and Queen Ann’s Lace, ¼ yd of four colored Jobelans: Dusty Green, Lt Moss, Plum Blossom, Blue Wing and finally a 13x18 in.  piece of Cashel called Crystal Brash and everything is 28 ct.  I also found a Just Nan chart “12 Days of Christmas Whimzi”

When we returned home Santa had been here too; I have a brand new laptop, an adorable pair of pajamas with the feet in them, a fluffy bath robe and another Thomas Blackshear’s figurine, “Proud Papa”.   Santa’s elf (DD) gifted me a top of the line Ott light with magnifier and chart clip.  This was in addition to several gift cards from a sister and DD boyfriend and handcrafted keychain form my great nephew.   I don’t know what I did to get on Santa’s really good list but I guess I have to keep it up.

I have only one day left on the current “12 Days and it’s time to move on in my wonky rotation, I need to work on my Black & White project, and something new, I can’t say it will be 15 items in 15 days but there will be new starts.  Also between slot games I stitched this little cutie needs a border that I will add today.

Before going to Las Vegas I got a copy of Cross Stitch Crazy with the JE chart Festive fairy, Cross Stitch Collection with JE Winter Goddess and The World of Cross Stitching that also features a beautiful JE Christmas trio.  I just hope I live another 150 years, maybe by then I would have stitched all of my current stash. 

I am so grateful to all of you who decided to follow my blog, I never thought I would have this many.  Thank you and I wish you all a very safe and Happy New Year!

I know it's late but here is my last unofficial TUSAL for 2011

 Got to make some more xxs.

Merry Christmas!!

I will be leaving for a week in Las Vegas for the Christmas holiday, but before I go I want to wish all of my blog followers, friends and family a very Merry Christmas.  I will try to get a few of those little xxs in on this trip but I won't guarantee it. See you when I get back. 

I couldn’t help myself…

I have fallen under that evil spell that forces you to have several charts going at the same time.  I use to be satisfied starting a project and finishing all of the stitching before starting anything new, but I am being taken over and I can’t help myself.  During this last IHSW I didn’t stitch as much as I wanted but everything I did was stitch related.  I have completely skipped over my to-do-list and prepared five totally new charts to add to my wonky rotation.  They are: 

1.       Labor of Love-Counting Calories (freebie)

2.       EMS-Champagner (freebie-have to change the year)

3.       EMS- Rose Sampler (freebie)

4.       Director of CS by Nickole-African Society (will cost a couple of dollars now)

5.       Brooke’s Books-January Cake (1^st of 12 also freebie)

While out to purchase a couple skeins of floss I just happened to see a clearance rack and lo and behold what did I find three (count them) three Christmas stockings for just $5.99 each, plus I have this Alessandra Adelaide Skull Banner I bought a couple weeks ago.

I finally found a nice frame for Kitty and it’s now on the way to Arizona.  I forgot my sister reads my blog and she has already seen it, but she and Lucky are anxiously awaiting it’s arrival.

As for the actual stitching I did this weekend, I worked on the 12 Days and I have to say day 8 is by far the most intense.  In that very small design there are lots of ¼ stitches which I think look better as ¾ stitches so it has taken longer than any other day including the swan in day seven which had quite a few too.

Last but certainly not least; this week I received this beautiful gift from a special Stitchy sister (thanks Irene); so this week has been a blast and I am so excited to start some new projects.

  That sounds like a good idea so I’m off to make some more wonderful little xxs.  Thanks for stopping by.

Sorry for being absent so long but when there is nothing exciting going on, there is nothing to talk about.  Okay let’s see what I have to share… on the soldier memorial most of the stitching has been done.  There are more stars that go above the words but I want to make sure I have enough space for the soldier’s information.   I won’t finalize anything until I‘ve made contact with his next of kin and verified his information so for now this is on hold.

 I finished another part of my Black & White project; this one depicts an African Shaman,  I have three more to go until I have to figure out how I’m going to put them all together into a wall hanging.

 I also finished day six of my 12 Days of Christmas, I love this chart and the days stitch up really quickly.  Speaking of 12 Days of Christmas there is a beautiful one going on over at http://serendipitousstitching.blogspot.com/ that I am really enjoy. 

I’ve stumbled my way through a couple more Zumba classes.  You know in my mind I can really do those Salsa dance steps…however that information does not reach my feet and forget about the arms they’re just going everywhere.  At least I can admit that I have the dance moves of Elaine Benes from Jerry Seinfeld.

Thank you to all of my followers for checking me out and I hope you enjoy what you see.

Well I’m off to the dentist today (Bud isn’t the only one to have his teeth cleaned) and maybe nine holes if the rain holds off and of course making some wonderful little xxs afterwards. 

Everything but stitching...

All of a sudden I have become very busy with everything except my stitching.  Saturday I joined Curves to get some exercise and keep the old blood flowing in my legs.  To my surprise they offer Zumba classes, so I stayed and joined that too.  That was the most fun besides stitching I have had in a long time, it will probably be more fun when I get my feet moving with the instructors but my stumbling around on Saturday was good enough.  Hubby and I went to dinner that evening with a wonderful couple that we play golf with (Linda & Don) and Linda suggested that we should try to get in another round of golf before it gets too cold.  The men were working on Monday, so Linda and I met two more friends (Michelle and Diana) and we had a ball, after our nine holes we stayed and had lunch and refreshments, it was a terrific day.  We got our golf in just in time because it has rained all day today, thank goodness it’s not cold so there’s no freezing but man is it wet.  I went to Curves today for my circuit training, they want to make sure I know the proper way to use the machines so the instructor watched me complete two rotations on each one and then explained the stretching machine (no it’s not the rack) it has several stations where you can do stretches without getting down on the floor, which is wonderful because at my age getting up is not pretty and come with sound effects that are sometimes scary but very necessary.  In between all of this excitement there was also life’s daily activities like cleaning, cooking, dishes, laundry and blog hopping so there wasn’t much stitching going on.  I did however get to finish the Brittercup Kitty for my sister.  All I have to do now is find the perfect frame.

 I have been trying to get a good picture of my rat terrier (who is very camera shy) to share and Bud finally decided to cooperate, he is now part of my sidebar so when I talk about “Bud” everyone will know who I mean.

Well I’m going to try and make a few xxs before bedtime.  See you next time.

My one and only Christmas ornament...

I have still been working on my rotation projects but I injected a quick one and only Christmas ornament for my niece and her son.  She has a theme every year for her Christmas trees and this year it was Santa, so this is my contribution to her decorations.   It is from a free booklet of designs that came with a Cross Stitch Crazy magazine and it was stitched with DMC threads on 16ct aida.

There is a little progress on the solder memorial and I have also started this little present for my sister who is a cat mom and appreciates my cross stitch.

This is a design from the Christmas ornament issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine by
Michelle Lash of Brittercup Designs.  I’m stitching it on 16ct aide also using the DMC alternatives to the Weeks Dye Works floss recommended on the chart.  I would have had to wait for those threads if I ordered them and I already had plenty of DMC in my stash.

Well hubby and I are off to retrieve Bud who has had a spa day.  He had become one little stinker, from his breathe to his little nub of a tail.  He’s getting his nails done (clipped) a bath and his teeth cleaned.  He was a complete nervous Nelly when we dropped him off this morning so he should be very excited to get home for a nap.

After that it's to my stitching station to make some more of those wonderful little xxs.

I had hoped I would have more progress on the soldier memorial to share but I worked on 12 Days until the wee hours in the morning on Sunday and Monday just got away from me.  Have you ever just accomplished absolutely nothing and couldn’t figure out why and what you did all day.  I did get a late start yesterday due to my late night activities the night before, then I visited with my daughter when she came home from work for a while, I defrosted the remains of our fried turkey and made potpies and turkey salad (I had to freeze it on Saturday and give ourselves a little break, but I had to get rid of it). After eating our delicious potpies I continued stitching on the soldier memorial and I’ve now finished the heart, I think the rest will go pretty quick.  I’ve got a couple of Christmas gifts to start, but I can’t show them, just know that I am stitching as always.   Here are the pictures of my recent progress.

If you haven't already, check out my Other Crafts tab and see what else I've done.

Gotta run and make some more of those wonderful little xxs.

Let me just start this by saying...

 I SURVIVED THE FRYING OF A TURKEY AND AM STILL IN MY HOME!!!  WHOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!

In all seriousness I was worried about the Hubby frying a turkey it is a dangerous thing to do, I have heard thousands of horror stories and I didn’t want to be this year’s addition. However I must confess that the indoor electric turkey fryer worked pretty darn good.  I was able to find a 14 lb turkey that wasn’t frozen and Hubby washed, dried and seasoned it, it took a little over an hour to fry.  I have to say this was the moistest turkey I’ve ever had, even the breast was juicy.  Secretly I did have my shoes on all while it was cooking just in case I had to leave in a hurry.  After the turkey and fixing were eaten and Hubby settled down to watch football, football and more football I curled up and stitched.  I finished the second design in my Black & White project.

Don’t know which one I’ll start next but I’ll figure it out when it rolls around again in my wonky rotation.  Happy Dance all around I finally finished the “Green Goddess” by Joan Elliott stitched on 14ct gold stardust Aida with DMC and Kreinik braid.  My photography skills are not the best but I’ve tried to take close-ups to show the beading.

It’s not official because I wasn’t signed up for 2011 TUSAL but just for fun here is mine, started the last new moon. 

Well 12 Days of Christmas is calling so I’ve got to go and make more wonderful little xxs.

Two many cooks...

  For our Thanksgiving dinner I had planned a ham, turkey legs (no one eats the breast), dressing, sweet potatoes, mac & cheese, spinach, green beans, cranberry sauce, rolls, peach cobbler and zucchini bread for dessert.
 To my surprise Hubby decided he wanted fried turkey and yesterday brings home an electric indoor turkey fryer. What is with this fried turkey? We've never had it before and we don't even eat all parts of a turkey.  I don't get the fascination? Now I am tasked with purchasing a turkey and gallons of what we usually call "house burn down fluid" (peanut oil) on Thanksgiving eve. Hopefully I can convince Hubby not to try it if  the bird is not completely thawed. (Which it probably won't be).
 If not, I have enjoyed my new blog and getting to know all of my followers, if you don't see me for a while I may be displaced to a homeless shelter pending the rebuild of our home. It will be every man, woman with her stash, dog and grown child for themselves.  So I hope everyone has a very Happy and SAFE Thanksgiving. 

After IHSW, I'm back in business

I was really disappointed this weekend not being able to finish the border on the Green goddess I went on to other things but this morning has brought a new spool of Kreinik (850) and a spare just in case.  I made that run to my LNS and of course the Kreinik wasn't all I got.  This chart sprang off the rack and I had no choice. 

I've seen the Alessandra Adelaide "Spider Banner" and "Bat Banner" done by my friend Jan and they are amazing, beautifully stitched.  I know Halloween is long gone but there's alway next year, so this will be going on my to-do list.
As promised this is the progress I made on the B&W design before going to bed last night.

 I really enjoyed my first IHSW and knowing that there were lots of stitchers stitching with me was exciting because now I can see all of their progress too. Well I will finish up some of my blog hopping and then I'll go make some more of those wonderful little xxs.

So Far This IHSW...

I started working on my soldier memorial and those tiny blue stitches had my eyes crossing

so I switched to the Green goddess to finish out the border so next week I could do the beading and wouldn’t you know it, I ran out of Kreinik braid (850) and me being the stickler I am I can’t go on to the next step until I finish the border,

so what do I do?  I decided to start the next chart in my Black & White series and this is where I left off last night at about 1:30am.  

I’m going back to making those wonderful little xxs and will show my progress on the B & W next time.

What a week I've had...

Here are the pictures I spoke about of me on the steps of the White House and a couple more; there is also a picture outside of my sister and me when she visited in Sept. 

 I didn’t get to go inside that time.  

On Wednesday I did laundry (nothing exciting there)  and went to the Stitch In but I didn’t get very much stitching done I think they should change the name to a chat-in or talk-in because that is what we did and man did I have a good time. For some reason my soldier memorial is not moving along very fast as it should, I want to finish it because it’s for a worthy cause but not a cheery occasion and I think that's getting to me. 

  Thursday was spent blog-hopping all day and boy does time fly when you are having fun, then it was time for dinner and the circus or I should say Cirque Du Soleil.  I love going to the circus, I have seen a few of them and I would have to say this one was my least favorite so far.  There were some amazing acts but there is usually an overall story line and I didn’t get this one, however I got to spend some quality time with my adorable hubby,  who admitted to taking a couple of power naps during the aerial acts.  The program says the meaning of Quidam is (nameless passerby, a solitary figure lingering on a street corner, a person rushing past, a person who lives lost amidst the crowd in an all-too-anonymous society). Hey couldn’t that be all of us at one time or another?

 Anyway it is time to become a Hermit and Stitch some of those lovely little xxs.   

This week is already half over

Just a short post today, took my tour of the White House yesterday, it was so exciting to actually be inside.  Unfortunately I didn't see any memebers of the first family, I took the hubby along just in case I did because he would have had to carry me out.  The other disappointing part was that the tour did not include the Oval Office it was of the original section consisting of the Green, Blue, Red and China Rooms that surprisingly look a lot bigger on tv, I saw the State Dining Room and the East Room.  I even walked down that impressive hallway with the red carpet where the President sometime does press conferences and makes announcements. I wish I could have taken pictures but none were allowed inside. I'll show the pictures from outside next time. The tour was great.
  Today is the Stitch In @ In Stitches Needleworks which should be a lot of fun and some stitching as usual.  Also a reminder this is the weekend for IHSW click on the crab on my sidebar for more details and also go to  http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/2011/11/totally-useless-stitch-long.html#link to sign up for the 2012 TUSAL.
Stitching is going slow in the soldier memorial so there isn't a picture today I hope there more to show next time.
Well time to go finish laundry and make some more little xxs.

Finally got some work done.

I was able to stitch all day on Sunday; I didn’t have to cook dinner. Hubby and I were treated to a delicious meal by my daughter and her boyfriend. It took every ounce of restraint I have not to stand in the kitchen doorway and monitor everything being done; even though I hate cooking the kitchen is my domain. The menu was the boyfriend’s idea, Fettuccini Alfredo with sautéed spinach and Spicy Lemon Shrimp. My one contribution was garlic bread which he also made the spread for.  I have to say it was all very, very tasty. Hubby and I both agreed he and daughter are welcome in our kitchen anytime. 

Ok on to the stitching… I completed the third figure on the Black & White design, so I moved on to the 12 Days and worked on day two (2 turtle doves) I almost finished them last night but at 12:30 I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I finished them up this morning so the soldier memorial is next in my wacky rotation, progress on that to come. 

This week is packed full of fun things to-do; we have lived here in the Washington DC area for some time now and I finally decided to take a tour of the White House so that’s on Tuesday, I have the Stitch In at my LNS on Wednesday evening and Thursday night is Circus Night!!!  We have tickets for the new Cirque Du Soleil show “Quidam”.  I don’t know what that means but I’ll let you know after the show.

Well as usual I’m off to make some more wonderful little xxs.

New Sex Toys

No, no it’s not what you’re thinking!  Remember my list of abbreviations?

   Stash

   Enhancement

e X perience/expense

 I recently found a wonderful toy, it’s an app for my iPhone it’s called Thread Tracker created by Touch Screen Craft, there are three versions one for DMC (Thread Tracker 117), Anchor(Thread Tracker 4635) and Madeira (Thread Tracker C40).  I use 117 and it allowed me to create my own floss inventory that I can maintain and actually make a shopping list that is always with me whenever I find myself in or near a craft store. 

I also picked up the latest World of Cross Stitch magazine with lots of Christmas gift ideas and a Joan Elliott chart of Santa in his sleigh full of toys and elves. 

I’ve made some progress on the Black and White design but I’m not where I want to be yet so I won’t share right now, so to be able to show some progress photos in my next post I’m off to make some wonderful little xxs.

Happy Veteran's Day

To all veterans past and present I salute you and thank you for your service and keeping me safe. Special salutes to all the vets in my family: my brother, sister, niece, nephews and husband. Love you all.

Today is one of my least favorite days of the year, “boobie smashing day” the poor old girls have been through a lot over the years, but to be safe I guess they have to endure some torture.   I was going to work on my Black & White chart while I waited but everything went so quick today, no waiting.  This was the first time having a mammogram done at our new hospital on Fort Belvoir in Virginia. 

In my modified rotation as I like to call it I have made a little progress on the soldier memorial and on the Green goddess.  I had a hard time with the red for the memorial, I changed it a couple of times some were too pink and some were too purple so I have combined two different variegated threads (DMC #48 & DMC #107) to get the affect that I wanted.  I could have gone in search for the SILK’N COLORS floss suggested by the chart but I wanted to get started and use what I already had on hand.

On the Green goddess I made another change, in the background there is a sort of honey cone like affect which was supposed to be stitched with Kreinik #4 braid 3215 Peridot but with all of the sparkles from the fabric itself it completely faded out. Instead I used DMC 703 Chartreuse it looks really good, not too dark, hopefully you can see it in the photo.

Well time to go make some more xxs.