Busy, busy, busy!

I have been so busy trying to get my kitchen back to working order, we started installing the tile back-splash after attending a tiling class at a local tile shop. It was definitely a challenge deciding how to install the tiles without cutting too many little individual pieces. As you can see to avoid that we decided to insert a design element (my idea). It needs a little more cleaning up and this side of the kitchen is done.

 It took us a whole day to get this done, I think it turned out pretty good, but it's like taking two steps forward and one step back. As I was cleaning up and loading the dishwasher the latch broke right off in my hand. At first it was "OH NO! More Money" then we remembered "American Home Shield" we pay for this service why not let them take care of it. It took a few days but it is now finally repaired, but as we were about to start tiling the other half of the kitchen, hubby decided that we needed a new microwave so away we went to Home Depot to get one. That took another whole day to install, needless to say no tile yet on that side of the kitchen.
In the midst of all these kitchen adventures, hubby went in to the hospital for a routine procedure   and I had to be with him to drive him home, anyway we arrived at the stated time 7:30 and as usual there was a 3 hour wait. Everything proceeded smoothly from there until we returned to the car and found a nice little note from the lady who hit our car.  I don't know how she did this just parking but that amounted to another 2 hours in the hospital garage with their security trying to contact her and obtain her insurance information. Repairs will be done next week.Oh man,  I am getting tired all over again just remembering this last two weeks.
Well as you all know me I found a way to get in a few xxs here and there so in addition to my whining I have stitching to show. First up is my finish.

This is "Gentility" by Creative Concepts Unltd., she is stitched on 28 ct Jobelan fabric from Under The Sea Fabrics called Autumn with DMC floss. Her hair is black Homespun yarn from Lion Brand Yarns and yes those are real earrings from Hancock Fabrics. I love how this one turned out.
 My next picture is my progress on LHN "Needlework School. That's me in the middle (and I just notice the little girl on the left has no feet).

I have the top and bottom borders (and the little girls feet) to stitch and this will be another finish. The last thing I worked on is a cloudsfactory chart called "Game of Thrones - Houses Banners" this is what the finish will look like

and this is where I am so far.

I don't even watch Game of Thrones but my hubby and daughter do so, I thought why not. I'll let them decide who gets it. Well if you are still here reading, I thank you for taking the time. I hope the stitching made up for the whining and complaining above and I'll go now and make some more little xxs.

I am worn out...

This past week has worn me out! It all started on last Friday, we had contracted with Empire to replace the flooring in our kitchen, so we had to rearrange the dining room so that we could move the refrigerator there. Then we were stuck in the house all day Saturday while the old stuff was ripped out and the new stuff was installed.

We also found a local company to redo the counter-tops and this was scheduled for Monday, so after staying up late cleaning up from the delicious Mother's Day dinner provided by my DD and SIL, we cleared everything out of the kitchen. The workmen came early Monday morning (I'm talking 8:30 early) and tore out the old counters and sink, so no meals were being prepared here.

The new stuff wasn't to be installed until Tuesday so still no cooking, the drawers were in the bedroom, all of my other kitchen stuff was in the living room (which was a disaster area) and I was forced to make coffee in my craft room. Finally we got counter tops and sink but no plumbing.

I waited another couple of hours for the plumber to come and finish up. All we need now is the back-splashes and my new kitchen is done.

Of course while all of this was going on I wasn't sitting idle doing nothing. I decided that I was going to change the name of the Needlework School from Mrs. Ross' to Mrs. Gray's and instead of Philadelphia, PA it would be Alexandria, VA I left the date as 1776.

Suddenly I started hearing someone call to me and it was this lady "Gentility"  from Creative Concepts Unltd., Inc.

She is being stitched on 28ct Jobelan called Storm from Under the Sea Fabrics with DMC floss. This is as far as I have gotten with everything else going on.

Her hair is straight stitches of black- Homespun from Lion Brand Yarns. The top knot with the beads will be attached last along with her earrings.
Well off to make more of those little xxs.

It's Wednesday!!

Nothing special about this Wednesday other than it's the day before Cinco De Mayo! Happy Cinco De Mayo to all that celebrate this holiday.  I just felt like writing a blog today and I do have a cople of things to share. First, I have recently discovered Floss Tube in a biiiig way and so this is what I have been stitching to.  I set up my iPad and watch (listen) to videos while I stitch. Some of the videos are very entertaining and informative. Now you know I like to try different things outside of my comfort zone and I have gotten it into my head that if some of these people can make videos and have hundreds of views and comments on them, I CAN TOO.  Well it was a leap of faith to start this blog and here I am. I may not be as popular as some but I get enough visits and comments to stay alive and I am so grateful to all of you. I'll let you all know if there is ever a floss tube video of me to watch, I've been practicing.  Anyway back to what I was saying, I found out that there is something called stitch may-nia going on, I don't know all of the rules but I think it's like when you have a new start for each day of the month of May (maybe?). I have seen so many beautiful designs and can't wait to start seeing progress on some of them. There is also a HAED (Heaven and Earth Designs) challenge going on, I think people stitching HAEDs are given a different challenge every month or so. I have a couple of small freebies but have never stitched a HAED, I don't enjoy the wall to wall stitching with all the confetti, that drives me crazy. There is also a Mirabilia craze going on out there in video-land I do like the dresses on the ladies in the Mirabilia designs but the faces aren't expressive as my Joan Elliotts.  Well that was my opinions on floss tube, HAEDs and Mirabilias, on to what I have been working on. In my last post I showed the "Seafarer's Globe" that I had started well here is as far as I got before putting it away for a while.

This is one half, I even did the back stitch on everything except the scroll at the top, that I want to work all together at one time. As you can see there is the tail of the sea serpent down in the lower left corner. This is a great design. Since I was in the mermaid mood I worked on the "Sea Goddess".

I finished off some more sea weeds and added another little sea horse and will soon be able to start on her tail which is gorgeous. I had another chart that started calling to me so I took out this Little House Needleworks "Needlework School and started on it. This is where I am now.

I may continue to work on this one at "stitch-night" at my LNS  so you may see it again soon. One more thing before I go, I got the 2017 Keepsakes Calendar in the mail and now instead of putting the charts for the included designs in the calendar there is a separate booklet.

Here are the designs for 2017, there is a Joan Elliott for October, whoo hooo!

Well got to go make some wonderful little xxs, thanks for visiting.

PS. Let me know if you like the way my blog looks.