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.