I'm Baaaaack!!!

Hello, hello!!!

It's been a while, hasn't it?  The baby is almost 3 months old and is starting to sleep more predictably and is finally in the crib, so I am slowly getting the rest of my life back!  And you know what that means?????

Yes!!!  I am cross-stitching again!!  Yay!!!

(Can you tell how happy I am to be working on my project(s) again??)

I decided to tackle the new baby's birth record - best to get it done and out of the way so I can focus on the Hermit.

I am certainly a bit rusty - well, at least my hands are.  After 15 minutes of holding the fabric, my fingers starting going numb and cramping up.  My right hand (the one I use the needle with) also started cramping.  Bleh!  I lasted about an hour.  Boo!  Going to have to build up my endurance again! ha!

Anyway, here is an updated photo I took this morning.  She's coming along nicely!

Ah... so good to be back!!!

Still around - just not stitching much these days!

I had no idea its been 4 months since my last post!  We had a busy summer and with my ever growing belly, I found it harder and harder to sit and cross stitch.  I seem to recall that most summers I tend to put away the projects as there are lots of other things on the go, but by the time fall rolls around, I am usually back in the swing of stitching.

Not this fall.

Some of you may recall that I was expecting my 3rd child.  Well, he arrived on September 16, 2013 and I've had my hands full, figuratively and literally speaking.  I barely get a few minutes to check my email let alone a few hours to stitch.  With the older two kids needing just as much attention as ever, precious "me" time is scarce, to say the least.  If there is any time for myself, I am usually found taking a shower, having a coffee, or more often, trying to catch a few zzz's.

Life is great though, don't get me wrong. My new son is now a month old, he's gorgeous and healthy and nursing like a champ.  I am recovering well from surgery and hoping to get back into running in the next few weeks.  Once life and our new routine settles in for the winter, I plan on picking up that needle and thread and getting back to work. 

Until then ... happy stitching!

Update on the Little Pond.

I've spent the last week working on the Little Pond.  As I mentioned in previous posts, it is a much easier project to stitch.  There are blocks of color to stitch, rather than having to change threads after 2-3 stitches like I often have to do with the Hermit.  It's also more fun in some ways because I can see the animals coming together much faster.

With my expanding belly, it is also easier to stitch this one because I don't have to use the large Q-snap.  The Hermit is so large that the Q-snap is resting at the top of my belly/uterus, which can be quite uncomfortable at times.

So, here's the progress photo.  The giraffe is coming along and you can see a little froggy!

As always, thanks for reading!

Another New Project!

I once was a one-project-at-a-time kind of stitcher.

Not anymore.


I currently have 3 projects on the go.  The Hermit, Warm and Fuzzy Kitten, and now a new birth record for baby #3. 

I started Little Pond Birth record on May 14, 2013.  I hope to have it completed before new baby is a year old, so sometime in the last quarter of 2014.  Totally doable, I think.  It's a relatively easy pattern, on 14ct Aida cloth.  It's funny to me how these charts are "easy" for me now after working on the HAED.  It is actually a nice break from working on the the Hermit.

Here is the first photo.

As always, thanks for reading!

One more down ...

... page, that is.

Yes, that's right folks!  Another page of the Hermit is complete.  This page was a bit repetitive which in some ways is easier to work on because I only needed 4-6 color threads to do the majority of the work.  I attacked this page a bit differently - I worked more consistently on each 10 x 10 square, which helped to minimize counting errors, though somehow I still ended up with a few. 

Anyway, I think it looks great and certainly no one will notice where the errors are - so, without further ado, I give you the latest update of the Hermit. 

  

Once again, thanks for looking! 

Back to "scary" kitty.

Hello everyone!  My apologies for being MIA.  Did I mention that I'm expecting my 3rd child in September?  Yeah, so that has occupied my mind over the past 2-3 months.  It's all good, we are excited and a little scared as well.

I took a self-imposed break from stitching for several weeks.  As some of you may recall from previous posts these breaks are usually due to television series addictions.  ;)  This current addiction is Fringe.  Oh, sooooo goood!!!!!

Anyway, over the weekend, I picked up an old project which I haven't touched in ages - warm and fuzzy kitten.  Or as my husband describes it, "scary kitty".  It's a beautiful project, and I have missed doing half-stitches, so it's been pretty easy on my eyes.  Here's an updated photo.

Page 6 is done!!

Not much to say here - I finally got the 6th page of charting done.  Yay!!  I completed it last night and am sooooo happy it's done.

 

Now the decision is where to stitch from here???

 

**Sniff** - Didn't make the deadline!

Today marks the 1 year anniversary that I started work on the Hermit.  My goal was to complete the 6th chart page by today but sadly, I was not able to do it.

I blame Bond.  James Bond.

And Fringe.

And a migraine headache from hell.

Excuses, excuses.  I think I will be able to complete the page this weekend, but since today is the anniversary, I decided I had to write and post a picture of the Hermit, 1 year later.

The Countdown Begins!!

I have 4 days to finish the current chart page I have been working on for the past 3-4 months.

FOUR DAYS!!!!

Why 4 days??  Well, March 8, 2013 marks the 1 year stitching anniversary for the Hermit.  If I am able to finish this chart page in 4 days, then I will have completed 6 pages in 1 year.  Given that the Hermit has about 24 pages in total, this means that at this rate, (6 pages per year), it will take me 4 more years to complete the Hermit.

Wow.  I knew it would take years, but now that I have a solid idea of exactly how much work I can do in a year, I think it might be doable!!

On that note ... I had better get to it.  I certainly hope I will be updating very, very soon!!

Wish me luck!!

Fast & Furious Stitching!

Hello again, my stitching followers!!

After my last post, I caught the stitching bug again and set to work on the Hermit.  I got some great stitching time in on Sunday and Monday this week, so much so, that I wanted to post an update.

March 8, 2013 will mark the 1 year anniversary since I started work on the Hermit.  I am hoping that I will finish this current page by that date, which will mean that it took me 1 year to complete 6 pages of chart!!  At that rate, the project will be done in .... 4 years!  (Ha! I'm crazy!)

I am very excited as well because I finally found a box to hold all my cross-stitching stuff.  Right now everything is in plastic bags, so it will be nice to have a home for everything.  I can't wait to get it all organized tonight!!

And, without further ado --- an update on the Hermit.

Bad Stitchy!

Wow.  My bad. Haven't posted in almost a month.

I blame Netflix.

Seriously.  I haven't been stitching much since the New Year.  Aside from Netflix, there was alot going on with me in January.  Things are finally settling down a bit.  I am hoping to get back to more stitching soon.

As for Netflix - hubby and I have been addicted to the new series, "House of Cards".  Great television.  I love Kevin Spacey.  We finished all 13 episodes in about a week.  Then we started a Star Trek marathon.  We've been watching the movies every night this past week.  So good!  William Shatner is great.

But, I have to admit, I miss stitching.  I miss the Hermit.  We are visiting my in-laws this weekend and I brought the Hermit.  I am really hoping I can get some stitching done today.  It's hard to believe but it's almost been a year since I started working on the Hermit.  I have the date written down, it's sometime in early March 2012 that I placed the first stitch.  Crazy!!

I had better get off the computer if I want to stitch this weekend.

Here is a photo of the Hermit's progress so far.

Thanks for sticking with me!

Hermit - February 16, 2013

2012 - A Stitching Review

Good day loyal followers!!  Once again, I have to apologize for my tardiness in posting.  With the holidays and the January hangover that followed, I just haven't had a chance to post. Oh, and the season 6 of Dexter is now available on Netflix, so everything stitching related has kind of taken a backseat.

Looking back to 2012 - I have to say that it was probably the best year I had for cross stitch finishes.  Four!!  (Doesn't sound like a lot, but when you consider the time that goes in to each project, I think it's pretty impressive!)

The first finish was "Dogs have Masters, Cats have Slaves", second was my son's birth record "Baby Express Birth Record",  third was my friend's birth record for their son "Farm Friends, and finally, "The Golden Girls".

 

Wow, seeing them all together like that!  So awesome, if I do say so myself!  ;)

Can't help but wonder what 2013 will bring.  Coming soon, a Hermit update.  Thanks for continuing to follow my stitching journey.