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.

Busy Weekend

I learned the other day from one of my sisters that a soldier from my hometown was killed in Afghanistan last month and I wanted to make a memorial for his mother, being a veteran and married to a retired soldier this means a lot to me.   I just  had to add another item to my modified rotation.

  I think most people have a set time period to stitch on each of their projects, mine is a little different, I set how much of the chart I want to finish at a time before I rotate to one of the other items.   Since my last post I have made some progress on everything:

Green goddess has all of the backstitching on the face and wreath, also the beginnings of the border.

12 Days of Christmas has a finished partridge in a pear tree.

Black and White has two complete figures.

The memorial is “Red, White & Blue” by Vicki Hastings from The Cricket Collection it is being stitched 2x2 on 32ct Belgium linen.  The blue is DMC #4240, the red is DMC #4180, the white is DMC# 5200 and the gold stars are DMC metallic gold. This is what I have done so far.

Back to making those little xxs.

Stitching Fun & Challenges

Some friends of mine on About.com Cross Stitch were planning a challenge for 2012 where you start 15 items during the first 15 days of January.  Being a OAATer I can’t officially be a part of this challenge but I do have a serious problem.  As soon as I see something I like, I will put together a kit for it with all the threads, some with fabric and even a working copy of the chart.  I have at least 20 kits ready to go at any moment, I do have 3 items going right now but this is very unusual. 

 The last time I tried multiple projects was with the Angel of Cross Stitch and after a while I thought she was calling to me…”finish me, finish me”, maybe it will be the Green Goddess this time.  I may need someone to talk me off balcony railing so stay tunedJ

I went to a stitch night at my LNS “ In Stitches Needlework” http://www.institchesneedlework.com/   on Wednesday evening and I worked on” 12 Days” being stitched on 32ct Belgium linen (a first) actually a mistake, I thought I had picked up 28ct.  It’s a little tough on the old eyes but there is no rush, if it is not done by this Christmas, there’s another one next year.

 I really enjoyed the stitch in, we talked current events Kim K, LiLo, House Wives (you know the important stuff) and actually got some stitching done.  I now (sorta) understand about the TUSAL and it sounds like fun, so I’ll show the one I started at the next new moon. 

I am working on a TO-DO List page with a better look at all of my projects I have kitted up and ready to go and as promised “the STASH”.  I’ll have to take pictures of everything so it may take a while, but it’s coming.  So you just have to keep coming backJ

Well it’s time to go make some more little xxs.

Halloween's Over

Well Halloween is over so down came those decorations and up went the next holiday, I love decorating even if it’s just the front door. 

I have been a very busy bee these last couple of days I made my monthly trip to Barnes and Noble and picked up the latest issue of Cross Stitch Collection featuring Joan Elliott’s “A Victorian Christmas” and I also received my copy of her newest book “Fairy Enchantment”.  The “Dragon and the Fairy” is my favorite and of course has been added to my ever growing to-do list.

I keep saying I am a OAATer but lately I’ve wanted to start other projects before finishing the first.  So I have decided that I will start this version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” from Better Homes and Gardens 2001 Cross Stitch Designs, I guess I’ll even have to start a rotation or I’ll end up with UFOs all over the place.

Last but not least an update on the Green goddess, back stitching is making all the leaves pop.

Well off to make more xxs.