A Little Catching Up...

Once again from the bottom of my heart thank you all for the comforting words and prayers.  Now that I am back home and have access to my laptop I can share all of the things I missed, I had my iPad but it just wasn't the same. I didn't get a chance to post the picture of my update on the 15th for the Gifted Gorgeousness SAL so here it is:

Snoozin Santa by Holly Gordon

According to Mr. Jenkins I didn't do to bad this last month my TUSAL wasn't too shabby, he approves.

As for  IHSW I was able to finish the freebie by Little House Needleworks "N Pole Express" this as I said was a freebie with the purchase of the called for Classic Colorworks aka Crescent  Colours floss.  I can't remember the actual name of the fabric I used but it has iridescent sparkles that remind me of the northern lights and of course they don't all show in the picture.

I also started on the 4th part of a Facebook SAL "Wednesday We Stitch Black" by "The Primitive Hare" it is stitched on 30ct Cashel linen in Creek Bed Brown

There are only two colors in this design, black of course and what I decided to use is Crescent Colours Pea Pod.  I will go now and you know what I will be doing... Yes making those wonderful little xxs.

Good and Bad News

A couple of posts ago I told you that my sister was terminally ill, well the good news is the

Lord took her home and relieved all her pain and suffering. The bad news is I already miss her so much. My beloved Diane was a type 1 diabetic from the age of 13 and defied all the doctor's predictions that she wouldn't live past her 20s, she was 68. Over the years she developed arthritis so bad that it forced her to retire as the school lunch lady, but it gave her the chance to move in with her daughter and grandson who she adored. Diane was diagnosed with breast cancer last spring and because of her diabetes and heart condition her treatment couldn't be as aggressive as the doctors would have liked but they began with the hope she would achieve remission. Unfortunately in early November tests showed that in fact the cancer had spread. Even though Diane and I are 11 years apart in age we were very close, at times I felt that she was my second mother. It killed me to see the suffering she was going through but I know in my heart that she is now whole, there is no diabetes, no arthritis, no cancer and no pain. I ask you all as friends to please send up a prayer for my niece and her son that they have the strength to get through these troubled times and I will back soon.

February WIPocalypse 2015

This month's WIPocalypse (click on the button to the right for more info) question is "How do you overcome the feeling that you're in a rut with a particular project?" Well I love to cross stitch as does all of us but there are times where a certain design feels like it will go on and on forever with no end in sight. What I have done is switch to something else for a while, usually something small so I can have that little boost of gratification that I have accomplished something and then I can return to that BAP (big a-- project) with a clear mind, stress-free. As I was looking over my wips I don't seem to have worked on very many but I do have some finishes and new starts, so lets get to them. First up is a small geisha by Joan Elliott from her small Oriental Collection booklet that came The World of Cross Stitch magazine issue 177. She is stitched on 14ct off white Aida with DMC floss.

Next up is Mary Mouse (no relation to Mickey or Minnie) another of Brooke Nolan's Advent Animals.

 She joins Kitty and Pete and is also stitched with DMC floss on my robin egg blue kitchen towel.
The one wip that I did work on this month is Sea Goddess, another Joan Elliott design.She went from looking like this...

to this.

The camera doesn't do this one justice, her colors are gorgeous in real life. Last but not least is a new start called "North Pole Express" from Little House Needleworks designed for Classic Colorworks.  It is a freebie that you have to get from your LNS as you purchase the CC flosses to do the design.

I am stitching this on a 28ct linen with iridescent sparkles (I forget the name) that remind me of the northern lights with the Classic Colorworks flosses called for. That is all I have this time, off to make some more wonderful little xxs.