Late & Last Wipocalypse for 2012

My Wipocalypse report for December is that there was no progress made on any of these:

Spring Heart - olgamaxden.blogspot.com

Rose Sampler - EMS SAL

3 Kimonos - Joan Elliott's Oriental Collection

Banu - Seba Designs Facebook

Around the World in 80 Stitches - Papillon Creations

Idelia May Rich - Little by Little

Africa - Joan Elliott 

Biscornu - can't tell or show you, it's a secret for now

26 Angel Wings for Sandy Hook Elementary School  

 However these are all of the WIPs to be carried over to 2013 and you've seen them all before.  What I do have to report is that I had 29 finishes in 2012, but if you count each of the 6 Black & White figure, one of the 3Kimonos and 3of the 26 Angel Wings it would be 38. Of my original 6 Wipocalypse WIPs 5 have been completed.

Here's a list of all my finishes in 2012:

*(6) Black & White Figures                                                 African Women

 2nd Soldier Memorial                                                         Behold, I Bring You Tiding of Great Jpy

*12 Day of Christmas                                                           Black Cat Society

 Byzantine Gem                                                                     Christmas in July

*Counting Calories                                                               CS Diva (QR code)

 Fraidy Cat                                                                            His Name is Jesus

 I Know God                                                                         If the Shoe Fits

 Leo                                                                                       Libra

 Love One Another                                                                Lucky Kitty

 Merry Stitchmas                                                                   All XX's (QR code)

 I Love You (QR code)                                                         Property of Minnie G (QR code)

 Random Threads                                                                  Salem

 Santa 2012                                                                           There's Snow Place

Biscornu - 1                                                                          Praying Angel

*The Champagner

* These are the original WIPs for 2012

I put a picture of each finish  in my new 2012 Finishes tab at the top of the page so you can match them up.

In addition to my WIPs for 2013 here are some of the things I really want to start in 2013:

My Needle and My Floss They Comfort Me - Waxing Moon Designs

Stitching Mends the Soul - Waxing Moon Designs

Thine Is The Trick and The Treat - Prairie Moon

BeTrue - Little House Needleworks

To Market - Joan Elliott

159 Midnight Manor - Waxing Moon Designs 

Shadows - The Cricket Collection

Just One More X - The Cricket Collection

Well I want to thank each and everyone of my followers and those who just visit occasionally and I wish you all a very safe, Happy New Year.  I'll be stitching the New Year in, making some wonderful little xxs. 

Sorry I've Been MIA

There has been so much going on that I wasn't able to post much. I've been stitching squares for the Sandy Hook quilts and working to finish my biscornu for the exchange next month.  As if that wasn't enough I of course waited to the last minute to do Christmas shopping and then there was Christmas dinner preparations and cooking.  Finally there was Christmas and wooooo hooooo!  Did I ever hit the mother lode?  First I received issue 198 of The World of Cross Stitch with the Joan Elliott diary from my very special stitching angel Karen Newton-Smith in the UK.  It arrived on Christmas Eve, I don’t know how she did it but that was perfect timing.  I also received in the mail my copy of Cross Stitch Gold with Joan Elliott’s “Father Frost” and the latest issue of Just Cross Stitch.  I found, ordered and received copies of JE’s “Wit and Wisdom”, JE’s Sentiments and Sayings” and “Cross Stitch Angels” from David & Charles publishing’s. I got them through Amazon for very reasonable prices.

My Santa daughter gifted me a three disk set of “Hidden Object” games (my favorites).  The Hubby was the ultimate Santa, from him I got two new audio books, beautiful flosses with bobbins and a storage box; I got three beautiful kits, a desk top Ott lamp and an EZ Lap Stand.   

Our stitch-in group had a special Christmas gathering, we had lots of goodies to sample and Ellen our hostess gave everyone a beautiful Christmas gift. We got crackers from Patricia with surprise gifts and our gold crowns inside.  Here are a few of ladies from our group, some actually stitched others ate and Rieka (I hope I've spelled her name correctly) even brought and shared a finished piece of hers that she had framed in on a trip home to India. The frame is completely hand carved and stained, it’s really beautiful and my photography doesn't do it justice.

Well I've kept you in suspense long enough, but before all of the pictures I want to say welcome to my new followers and thank you to all for visiting and leaving comments. So I’ll have some stitching progress to share next time, I’m off to make more wonderful little xxs.  

Angel Wings

Love my audio books.

We all got this one "The Primitive Hare-2012" + all the trimmings.

                                                     

Patricia on right

Ellen on the left is our hostess and owner of In Stitches Needlework

I hope it was worth the wait. See you next time!

Merry Christmas!

I thank God for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ the reason for this holiday season.

Merry Christmas and God’s blessings to all!

xxs

TUSAL Dec 2012 and other stuff...

It is TUSAL time once again and I have really enjoyed sharing my orts and finding different little jars and containers to display them in.  Here is my display for December 2012.

I found this little glass milk carton at a shop at the National Harbor and I thought it was just too cute and of course Mr. Cleo Jenkins took it upon himself to present this month’s TUSAL.

It has been a really long time since I shared a picture of one of my statues and being that Christmas is on its way, I thought this would be a little reminder as to what the reason for the season truly is.

This one I call “O Holy Night” it’s by Ebony Treasures, I can’t remember exactly where I got it but I think it is beautiful. 

I've only got a couple of things stitchy to show, since I finished my Christmas ornaments I've been working on the SAL design by Banu Demirel I got from Facebook a while ago.   It is supposed to be blackwork but of course I love color so it is “multicolorwork”. You have to forgive the bad pictures, I’m old (enough said). 

The other design I worked on is “Ida Mae Rich”.

It is being stitched on 36ct Vintage Butter crème linen and to me you have to make a lot of little xxs to see any progress, but thanks to my new discovery of audio books I was able to loose myself in a good mystery and just stitch. I have gone through 5 audio books in the last two weeks.  

Thank you to all of my followers old and new for the comments you leave, I love them.  Before I go I would like to say that my prayers go out to all of the people affected by the shooting in the Portland, OR mall and especially to the families who lost loved ones. 

I’m now off to work on a special design for the biscornu exchange I’m participating in with some very special friends on the About.com cross stitch forum, so until next time I’ll be making some wonderful little xxs.

2012 Liebster Award

I was nominated this year for a Liebster Award by DJH over at Sometime, I am  not nice and I thank you.

Liebster is a German word meaning dearest, favorite or beloved. Liebster Awards are given by bloggers to other bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help newer bloggers gain wider recognition. 
1. Choose 5 bloggers with fewer than 200 followers to award the Liebster to.
2. Show thanks to the blogger who awarded the Liebster to you by linking back to their blog. 
3.  Post the award on your blog. List the bloggers you are giving awards to, with links to their sites, and comment on their blog to let them know that you have given them the award.

My five nominees are:
                           Vegas Jill- A Stitch in Time

                                    
                                    Vicky -   The Procrastinating Expat Kiwi Crafter

                           Faith -   Faithfully Stitching

                           Katie -  Jeremiah's Mom

                           Michelle -  Ozarks sew n' sews

Here is the 2012 Liebster Award so you can save it and post it to your page.

I think this is nice and something cute to add to your page, however I will understand if you do not want to repeat this process and pass it on, it does require a little time and effort.

Well stitch-night is tonight at my LNS and I still have to figure out "what's for dinner" so I'm off .  Thanks for stopping by.  

xxs

I Promised Ornaments...

I give you ornaments:

A little pillow ornament

I used the same fabric on the backs of Santa and Mrs. Claus

My Praying Angel got a different backing fabric.

This one was too big to be an actual ornament so it got the full pillow treatment.  Well now maybe I can get back to my crazy rotation I have a couple of things that haven't been touched in a very long time and they need some attention too.  If you're new here thank you for visiting and maybe becoming a follower and if you've been here before and decided to come back maybe I'm doing something right :-) Thank you too.

I did finish one of the audio books from the library the title is "Midwives" by Chris Bohjalian.  I loved this story and the reader made me believe that I was actually there. 

I also finished reading the other book I spoke about in another post "Blackwork" by Monica Ferris.  I will definitely look for more of her books. I'm off now to make some more wonderful little xxs.

November WIPOCALYPSE

I was blinded by the full moon…

That is my story and I’m sticking to itJ  Well that and I was feeling a cold coming on so I took some meds and stayed in bed  yesterday so I am a day late for Wipocalypse this month.  Well I have not really worked on that many of my WIPs this month but I have been busy stitching. I completed the 8^th part of AW80S.

The new stitches we worked this month were the Mossoul and Diagonal Mossoul, Damask stitch, a Rice stitch and a Pinwheel.  This is probably the only time I will ever use these fancy specialty stitches but they are fun to learn.

For the rest of the month I have been working on Christmas ornaments and practicing making a biscornu. I had never made one before and I joined a biscornu exchange so I decided that I would try a couple before picking one for the exchange.  This one I have decided will stay with me as my first. 

 Stitched in the magazine on Navy Lugana it’s called “White Lace” by Elizabeth Almond, mine stitched on Pink Aida is now Pink Lace.

Most of the stitching on the ornaments is done except for this last one…

the next big thing will be the finishing and that will all done in one day. So here is what I have so far.

“Love One Another”-Little House Needle works- on 28ct Mocha Cashel

“Santa”- Joan Elliott- on 30ct Northern Cross Linen

“There’s Snow Place” –Joan Elliott- 28ct White Monaco

“Praying Angel”-Treasury of Christmas Cross Stitch Designs- on 28ct White Monaco

Last but not least is or will be “Merry Stitch-mas”-Joan Elliott-on 28ct White Monaco

Well there you have it, what I’ve been working on this past month; I hope to have these finished in the next couple of days and will have pictures in my next post.  

My new favorite thing is stitching to audio books; I listened to “1225 Christmas Tree Lane” by Debbie Macomber the other day.  I love it! I made a trip to the library yesterday and got two more books on CD they are fantastic! I can just listen and stitch. 

Thank you all so much for stopping by, please come again. Now I’m off to feed my face so I can make some more wonderful little xxs.  

Late IHSW (but not forgotten)

I was debating with myself whether I should post now or when I have some actual stitching to show but I have to post something for this past weekend, it was IHSW.  OK, here goes,  I started this weekend off examining a new magazine I got in the mail it is the latest issue of “Cross stitch & Needlework”. It is chucked full of wonderful charts like the Santa on the cover and this beautiful Nora Corbett.  It is the Winter Dream Faerie.  I have never done a Nora Corbett but I may just have to try this one isn't it gorgeous?

There is another chart from this book that I started stitching on this last Friday however I can only show a snippet because it is to be an exchange piece if I change my mind about it I will show it in another post.

 The book hiding the stitching is a book I discovered today at Barnes & Noble, it’s called “Blackwork”. It’s a murder mystery (my favorite)  and the main character does what else, cross stitch and needlework.   The book is by Monica Ferris and there is an actual cross stitch chart included in the book.   I may not have found a way to stitch and read at the same time but I can read about someone else stitching.

Also this weekend I attended a stitch & bitch at Jan's house, she fired up Skype on her laptop and we got to visit with MarchAnn and take a tour of her new retirement condo. So even though it doesn't look it, I had a very productive IHSW. I now have the eighth part of AW80S to start on, my exchange piece to finish and my Santa from my last post so I think I will have to close up the laptop and get to stitching so there will be updates next time.  Welcome to my new followers, I hope you will visit often and thank you to all my followers for stopping by and leaving wonderful comments.  Now to makes some xxs

TUSAL and before the next IHSW

Before the next IHSW coming up this weekend … I haven’t been doing a lot of stitching lately, but I do have a couple of things to share with you.  I participated in a Christmas ornament exchange in a Yahoo group hosted by Joy at “The Busy Stitcher” and I received this beautiful package full of buttons, charms and other goodies and of course an adorable stitched Santa ornament. 

Since our host has declared our exchange closed even though I didn't find out if my gift pack was even received I am going to share a picture of the ornament I made.  I forgot to take a picture of all the other goodies I included.  This is why I was practicing making ornaments so I could get this one perfect as possible.  I think I did it.  I just hope my partner enjoys the box. 

It is also TUSAL time again and Mr. Cleo Jenkins had to help me corral those wild threads most of the green from the frogging session I had on the Banu design a couple of weeks ago.

I have started on another Christmas ornament but it will be just for me I think.  Can you guess what it is?

Mr. Cleo Jenkins wants to know too.

Well until next time I’ll be making wonderful little xxs.  Thank you for all of your comments and welcome to my new followers.

I am a bad blogger...

Sorry it has been so long since my last post, but I have been busy stitching.  For a day or two I didn't feel like doing much of anything, I had a touch of a cold, but taking some cold medication at the very first sneeze helped to knock it out before it could take hold.  The weather here has changed so fast, the Wednesday before Sandy it was 80 degrees and the Wednesday after it was 42 degrees.  Today  “Election Day” is sunny and cold but that didn't hold me back, I was up at O dark:30 and stood in line for an hour and a half to cast my vote, now that it is done I can relax and stitch some more. 

Speaking of stitching, when I did feel like stitching I couldn't decide what I wanted to work on, I picked up my Banu design and finished the leaf bunches and the cross stitch band, but picking the next color to use was a lost cause so I put it aside for something else.

As I looked through my bag of already kitted charts I pulled out this little one called “Idelia Mae Rich” that I showed here once before and started it. The dress is being stitched with The Gentle Art “Rhubarb” on 36 ct Vintage Butter crème linen and for some reason I couldn’t concentrate on making the xxs.  Unfortunately this is all I have on “Idelia Mae”

After that I went on another search through my bag and found this little beauty already kitted up and ready to go.  It is “Love One Another” by Little House Needleworks, it’s being stitched with DMC on 28 ct Cashel (Lt Mocha).  It has really stitched up quick and is so much fun; I should have it finished in a day or two.

I saw this chart being stitched by my wonderful friend Evalina over at “This and That” and commented that it was something I would love to stitch and Evalina being the angel that she is sent it to me when she finished.  It is a great chart and I already have the perfect fabric for it (WDW 30 ct in Guacamole), now all I need is time to stitch it. Thank you Evalina, you are a sweetheart! 

I mailed off a Christmas ornament exchange piece last Thursday and as soon as my friend gets it I will show you a picture. That was the real reason for finishing all of the Halloween ornaments (I needed the practice).  Well that’s what I've been up to, oh yeah I almost forgot.  After the storm and for a treat Bud had a spa day, he really needed it. 

Well it’s that time again, yes lunch time, so I’ll go feed my face and then make some more wonderful little xxs.  Welcome to all of my new followers and thanks everyone for the lovely comments on my last post, I really appreciate your kindness.

I Survived Sandy

I just want to say thank you for all of the prayers and well wishes sent my way. We lost power last night (Monday night) for a few hours and it has been raining constantly for over two days, sometimes very hard.  The winds were really bad last night and are just about calm now in comparison, the temp is in the low 40 degrees, if it gets any cooler we may have to turn on the heater.  There are some areas here that have flooding and still are without power so keep your prayers for my neighbors going up.  I tried to stitch some yesterday but I guess the nerves got the better of me and it didn't amount to much.  I can definitely try again today and maybe next time I will have some pictures to share. Thanks for stopping by and may God bless everyone in the path of Sandy.  xxs

Pre- Sandy Wipocalypse for October

I realize that Wipocalypse posts aren't due until Monday, but if you've been watching the weather forecast lately there is a hurricane heading our way and by then we may not have power.  Since the last Wipocalypse I worked on Halloween ornaments that I shared in my last post so I don't  have to show them again, what I can show you is part 7 of the 24 part SAL "Around the World in 80 Stitches" by Papillon Creations.  This month we worked on stitches representing Turkey (three sided triangle Turkish stitch), Malta (Maltese Cross) and Cyprus (techniques used in Lefkhara Lace). After the little battle I had with the frogs early on everything went rather smoothly.

Over-all

Close-up

Tomorrow I will be finishing up my hurricane preparation, stowing away lawn chairs and planters from the baloney wouldn't want the expected winds to send them through a window.  And one last and very important  task will be buying extra food for Bud.  He's been a little anxious lately.

If only he could cross stitch he would be more relaxed. I think I will find something to stitch right now.  Welcome to all my new followers and thank you all for stopping by.