Rainy Days and Monday's Always Get me Down......

Aside from the fact that it is raining and it is Monday....I'm really not all that down, but I LOVE that song so I couldn't pass up posting the title!

I had a wonderful weekend, despite the weather.....and got some stitching accomplished!!
My hubby went out with his brother on Saturday evening, Kella skipped her afternoon nap so she went to bed early and Sebastian was hooked on either his laptop or his Xbox.   That left me with a good chunk of time to myself to stitch and catch up on the television episodes I missed through the week! 

I've been soley working on HAED's this year, and I got an itch to work on something I could finish before Monday.  So I stitched ths cute little needlebook for a wonderful friend of mine that has recently picked up stitching again. 


Needlebook Front (this is from a Lucie Heaton free design you can find here )  I changed up some of the colors and the picture in the frame:

That's supposed to be me on the left!  :)

Needlebook Back (I know I've said it before, but I despise back-stitching, so I avoided it as much as I could with this self-made design!) :

Inside:

  I wrapped it this morning and sent it off in the mail!  I hope she likes it!


I also finished page 3 on Coral.  It was a small page but finishing it puts me at about halfway complete!  I am so loving how her face is turning out.  Her eyes are so beautiful!

I had taken my Angel of Hope piece to be framed and it was completed this weekend.  I think it turned out lovely.  Once I finish Coral and have it framed, I'll be giving these pieces to 2 of my sisters-in-law:


 One of the wonderful gifts I won from blog giveaways came in the mail during the week.  I received this intricate  Hand Dyed Cluny Lace Ric Rac Trim in beautiful Boysenberry from Nancy at the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. 
Her blog can be found here and her eBay store can be found here.   If you've never visited her blog, please take a moment to travel over there!  I love all of her designs, and she is soooo generous, she has giveaways all the time!

The picture doesn't do it justice!  I need some ideas on what to use it on!!  I'm thinking maybe some ornies for the holidays.....but I can't decide.  I'd love to hear any ideas anyone has!


 I hope everyone has a fantabulous week!


-lesli

She's Done!

I completed Angel of Hope just before Christmas....though I've held off in giving her as a gift until I finish Coral, so I can give them at the same time.

Isn't she purty?  :)

Other than her finish, I haven't done any other stitching over the holidays.  I did spend a good chunk of time yesterday cleaning up my floss disaster (I had 2-3 pieces I finished but never put the floss away).  I like to stitch with my floss pre-cut and layed out for me, instead of pulling the floss from the floss cards.  This way I can travel or sit in different places without having to lug around those plastic bins with all my floss cards in them.  Here's a picture of my accomplished clean up:

I may have to buy a 4th bin, as it's starting to get tight in there!

Let's see...what else did I accomplish..... oh yes, I finally finished gridding up the first vertical section and first horizontal section of Cathedral.  I can't decide if I should finish gridding up the entire piece or just start doing some stitching!!   I also spent some time and got all the floss sorted and pre-cut, so everything is ready to go!

Sooooo...what did Santa bring everyone!?    Santa brought me a brand new sewing machine!!  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!  I already have some grand plans in my mind on what I want to create!!   How will I ever accomplish all my stitchy goals AND my new sewing goals in one year?   Here's a picture of my new baby:

Let's see....I also got some gift cards to Joann's (can never go wrong with gift cards!) and daddy helped Kella get me a new HAED chart that I'd been vying for:  A Princess is Born   She's definitely getting added to my 2012 WIPocalypse list, which I'll need to shorten due to adding some sewing projects into my goals.

I survived the main holiday without gaining too many pounds....I'm back on track on my diet and I'm excited to kick off the new year with my weight-loss goals.   What New Year resolutions is everyone making?  Besides the diet goals, I'm resolving to clean up my old craft projects and get them done (to make room for new ones!).  I have so much yarn that I definitely need to knit or crochet something!!   Cleaning up my crafty stashes will probably mean some giveaways....I have so much stuff!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and that Santa spoiled each and every one of you!!


-lesli

A quick update...before the Holiday is here!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Yes, I had some grand plans to complete 2 of my WIPs before Christmas.....alas, I'm not even close.  But, I'm not going to dwell on it...instead I'm going to change the course of my plans :)   Stressing about deadlines won't help me enjoy the holiday spirit, so I've extended my goals to ...whenever! 

All of that being said, I did make some progress on my Angel of Hope:

The white frilly section of her dress is on its way to being complete, then I'll have just a bit more of dark blue colors and I'm done. 

This past week I spent on business in Charlotte, NC...with plans to stitch in the hotel in the evenings.  Yeah right, Lesli!   Let's just say, the needle never saw the light of day.  I did have a wonderful time with friends from work that I rarely get to see in person.  Definitely worth giving up some stitch time for!

**Diet update**  I was so worried that the fun I had in NC would ruin the diet plan I'm on, but to my surprise, I came home and actually lost 3 pounds that week!!  I'm now down 22 pounds and LOVING it!! 

After returning home, I took my kiddos to do some pottery painting.  We have this cute little pottery store that allows you choose the item you want to paint and they supply all the paint, brushes and fun items for you to use.  When you're done painting, they fire it in their kiln in the next few days and you pick up your item in about a week or so.   Here's some pictures of my babies working hard on their pottery:


Ok, though not a baby anymore....this is my youngest, Kella



And this is my oldest baby, Sebastian

Sebastian painted a cute little Santa mug and Kella painted a little cup for her "choc milk", as she put it.


My weekend was spent making some blankets for Kella's daycare teachers.  I've done this the past 2 years for her teachers (she moves to a new class each year) and everyone has loved them, so this is starting to become a tradition!   Here's a picture of the finished products:

I used 2 yards of fleece fabric, one with a pattern and one as a solid color and I crochet the two pieces together and crochet a cute little border on them.  I think they turn out pretty nice and they make a great, home-made gift.

I've also spent a little time catching up on everyone's blogs, but I know I didn't get to everyone.  But, I have some vacation from working coming up in a few days, and I'm off the rest of the year, so I'll have plenty of time to catch up then!!

Most likely, I won't post again until after the Christmas Holiday so I'd like to take a quick moment to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas.  Hoping everyone has plans to spend with friends and family while relaxing and enjoying the Christmas spirit!! 


-lesli

Time is flying by!!

It's almost mid-month....I can't believe it!!   All my cross stitching plans for this month seem to be falling apart.

I intended to complete my Angel of Hope and Coral pieces as Christmas gifts.  At this point, I'll be terribly lucky to finish just one of them!  BUT....I'm not giving up hope just yet!!!  :)

Here's a quick update on what I've accomplished with my Angel:

I have most of the blue portion of her dress complete...so it's mainly just the white lacy part left to do!!

Coral hasn't budged since my last update :(    My plan is to focus on that piece all next week.  I have to go out of town for work, which hopefully means some downtime in my hotel room in the evenings.....perfect for stitching!

Lesson learned - Don't make grand stitching plans during the holidays!!

Speaking of stitching plans....I created a page dedicated to my 2012 WIPocalypse plans.   I'll probably end up adding/deleting what I have there.....mostly deleting!   There's so many pieces I didn't put on there that I want to finish too!!   Never enough time!!

With so little stitching done on my part...what in the world have I been doing!?   With  having to go out of town next week, I wanted to get all of my Christmas gifts wrapped and shipped off to out of state friends and family.  I even have all my non-shipping gifts wrapped and ready also!!

We also trimmed the Christmas tree.....here's a picture of some snowflakes I worked on with my son:

Star Wars snowflakes!  :)    Ok...my yoda snowflake looks a little off, but you get the idea, right?

 
I hope all my fellow stitchy bloggers are doing well and enjoying this last month of the year!! 


-lesli

Black Friday Shopping?

Black Friday?  For any followers who aren't familiar with this term...here's my stab at an explanation.  Black Friday is the Friday following Thanksgiving.  It's the day that all of the retailers offer big specials and sales to start the Christmas shopping season.  I've seen other descriptions on why it was labeled "Black"....but the one I'll use is that it's the day that retailers are able to turn their books to black....meaning, they've been in the red all year for their budget and with all the sales they'll make on this day, they'll finally turn a profit. 

Anyway...... enough education! :)   I hope everyone was able to spend time with their friends and family on the Thanksgiving holiday.  And if you don't celebrate this day, I still hope you spent time with friends and family! 

Did any of you go shopping today and brave the crazy crowds of people?  There were people at local stores here that have been camping out in tents for days, waiting for the sales!   I completely can't figure out why they'd do it, but to each his own.....and if any of you did go shopping, I'd love to hear about your adventures!

While all the hustle and bustle goes on around town, I'm inside with my family....watching movies and.....STITCHING!

Here's what my two current WIPs look like now.....and hopefully I can post an update on Monday with some major progress over the next 3 days!

I haven't worked on Angel of Hope since the last update I posted, but here's a picture of what she still looks like....I'd love to get her done before December starts!



And this is what Coral looks like today.  If I can just get page 1 done over this weekend, then I can focus the rest of the month on Angel.

And a close-up:

Has anyone joined the 2012 WIPocalypse that's being run by Measi?  I joined and I'm starting to put my list of projects together in my head.  What is the WIPocalypse?  Starting in January, you'll post a list of all the projects/pieces you want to finish by the end of the year.  You can adjust that list, add/delete, throughout the year...so don't think you have to have set items now.  Then, on every Full Moon, you post your progress photos, even if there's no progress to your site and update Measi.  The best part - for each Full Moon that you post an update, your name goes into the giveaway drawing that she'll be having on New Year's Day, 2013!  Visit Measi's blog for more info and to sign up! 

Now just prior to Turkey day, I was so happy to see that I had 56 followers!  What a surprise to find that over just a few days I'm already up to 84!  That means....new items for the giveaway!  For getting to 65 and 75, I'm adding 2 new items to each of my drawings.

New items for my main drawing:

Cute holiday gift card kit

3 skeins of DMC cotton floss - your choice of colors (winner can let me know what they need!)

And new items for my additional drawing:

22 count fabric in rust - 12"x12"

Janlynn's Chart - Celestial.  The picture is small.. a beautiful image of the sun/moon, planets and all of the signs

I know I've stated it before....but I'll say it again :)   Thank you to all my followers!   I love seeing all the work/updates you post to your blogs and I sincerely appreciate when you take the time to read my updates and post.  I look forward to getting to know all of you!


-lesli

Another Giveaway addition and this week's update

I can't believe I'm up to 39 followers!!  This means I get to add another stitchy item to the giveaway loot!

I'm adding a cute Flip-It chart from Lizzie Kate:

It comes with this cute little charm for the bow on the wreath!

If you haven't entered my giveaway yet, there is still time!  Click here to enter!!  
I've added a growing list of names at the bottom of my giveaway post, of everyone that has entered.  This way I can use a random number generator to pick the winner.  Please check the names and make sure you're on there!

I'm so excited to share that I've joined the 2012 Heaven and Earth Designs BB SAL!!  They gave us 6 beautiful designs to choose from, and here is the one I decided on:

SK Blue Moon  (SK stands for Story Keep)

Our first page of the SAL won't come until January....so I have some time to get my other WIPS completed...I hope! :)

Just some quick updates on my two current WIPS.....

Angel of Hope - Finished her sleeves and now I've started on her beautiful dress

Coral - Didn't get much more done on this one this week.  This will be my focus over the weekend.  My eyes are still adjusting to the 22 count, but I'm really enjoying it!

Add caption

Unfortunately, I started coming down with a virus a few days ago, so I plan to spend my weekend getting better.  What better way to recuperate than to stitch!!  I'm hoping my next updates show a bunch of progress!


Wishing all my fellow stitchers a WONDERFUL weekend!


-lesli

Good-bye's and Hello's......

After a two-week stay with us, my parents flew back home this afternoon.   My kids weren't too happy to see them go, and neither was I!!   We had a wonderful time while they were here, with way too much spoiling going on!!   It was a sad good-bye but we're so thankful to get to see them!


Now for the hello's......HELLO to all my new followers!  I'm up to THIRTY already!!  I just about fell off my chair today when I saw that!!

Thirty total followers means that 15 joined after my contest announcement, so I'm adding 1 more item to the prize stash!   I haven't had a chance to snap any shots, so I'll load a picture of the new item ASAP.

If you haven't already entered, take a moment to enter my first giveaway here.  I'm purposely running it for more than a few weeks, so the goodies can increase!  (contest ends 12/03/2011)


I was able to get some stitching time in during my family's visit, so here's an update on what my Angel of Hope piece is looking like:

Progress as of 11/05/2011

I also started a bit on my two Heaven and Earth Designs pieces.  My progress on Cathedral is going slower than I'd like, but the piece is so big its difficult not to get frustrated. 

I've finally found all my floss for Coral and finished the gridding the other night.  Hoping to kick that one off this week!

Here's how Coral is looking so far:

My first official HAED!  :)

I'm hoping to finish both Angel of Hope and Coral in time for Christmas, to give them as gifts.  Wish me luck!!

Now to get caught up on everyone's blogs from the last two weeks!!



-lesli

One done....new one started!

My Japanese Maiden project is COMPLETE! 

Here's an image of the final product:

She's a little wrinkled, but it will all be pressed and stretched out after she's framed.

Those little tassels on her kimono and on the fan were a P A I N !!    I almost gave up on them, but I'm glad I finally got them done.  You can see my journey of a little over 3 months of work on this project here,  I have more close up pictures of the 4 corners and the back stitching.

I have been able to get a start on my Angel of Hope while my family is in town visiting.  Lounging around with them has allowed me to stitch a little as well.  My progress:

Finished one of the angel's wings. 

Close up of her

This is my first stitch using "gridlines"....and I'm loving it!  It is definitely worth the time I spent getting all those lines in there!



Have you heard the news!?   I have THIRTEEN followers!!    I'm so close to twenty that I'm beaming!

I've started thinking through what I have in my stash to put together for a give-away/contest.....  I'll post the contest and the items next week once my family is done visiting.  WOO!!  Maybe I'll break 25 before 2012 rolls around!! 


Thanks to the followers I have.....you all give such inspiration in your blogs and your work and I really appreciate the time you take to catch up on my posts and enter comments!!   Sending you all some online hugs!!


-lesli

Gridding

Happy Tuesday!  I am LOVING this fall weather in Florida!!  It probably won't last long, so I'll need to enjoy it while I can.  Another week of work, but also another week to stitch........
As I'm wrapping up the project I'm working on, I'm getting the itch to start my new one!  To pacify myself, I'm getting things "prepped" on my Angel of Hope work, so I'll have it all ready to go!


One of the things I'm prepping are....Gridlines!!!    I've never used them on my work before, but from what I've read they come in handy and help decrease mistakes and frogging.


I've seen other's post their WIP pictures with gridlines, some are drawn with non-permanent marker and others mark theirs with thread. 
I wonder if there are other ways out there I haven't come across?
I decided to go with using thread.  I'm sewing a 6-up and 4-down pattern, to create my 10-count squares.  It's a grueling process so far, but if it pays off in the end I'll be happy!!


Here's what my work looks like so far:

Hoping to get some stitching time in today after work!




p.s. - I have 1 follower!!  Love my hubby!  :)


-lesli