***hangs her head in shame*** (IHSW post, too)

I can't believe it's been almost a MONTH since my last post!!  

I feel so horrible for leaving all of you hanging!!     After Thanksgiving I was out of town for a week for work and then I've just been busy with the usual...work, kids, family, holiday shopping....and stitching....sigh...I'm sorry!!

Obviously I've missed the last few TUSAL and WIPocalypse updates...so I'm just going to plan to do a New Year's shabang and post a review of everything!!

But....I did manage to take part in the IHSW this past weekend...so that's what I'll be sharing for today:


TamLin Before:

And After (almost finished the half page!):

I also started a new piece on Sunday - Paradise Found by Janelle Nichol, designed by Heaven and Earth Designs.   Here is one day of stitching:

Here's a picture of what the finished piece will look like (in 20 years):

I'd like to wish everyone an incredibly wonderful holiday and Christmas!!   I hope everyone gets to enjoy time with their family and friends. :)

I promise I'll be back at the end of this year for an official final 2012 post.    I soooo promise!



-lesli

August 31st WIPocalypse

I can't believe it's already that time of the month!  (not THAT time...but...you know what I mean!)


I just bought over 500 skeins of floss so I'm itching to get them all sorted out!!  
So here's my quick update for the past few months (I missed the first August update):


SK Seasons Spring by Nadia Strelkina - Heaven and Earth Designs:

I finished this piece for a very good friend of mine.  I didn't post any progress pictures, and really I finished it in July...but I've been waiting to put any pictures up until after I gave it to her.

Started 05/21/2012: Finished 07/14/2012:

Tamlin (new start) as of 08/19/2012:

Cathedral as of 08/23/2012:

Wings as of 08/29/2012:

I feel like I've left something out that I worked on since the last update...but my mind is drawing a blank!!


Before I run to play with floss....I wanted to give a BIG THANK YOU to Kim of Scully's Cross Stitching.  She was giving away some of her Teresa Wentzler stash and sent me the discontinued Best of Teresa Wentzler Sampler Collection.  

Here are just a few of the gorgeous samplers found inside:

Thank you again, Kim!   I'm still oggling and drooling over the book....I can't decide which to start first!!


Hope everyone has a fun filled weekend!!


-lesli

August IHSW and TUSAL...and Giveaway Reminder

What a fantastic weekend I had!   Ran some errands and went shopping most of Saturday, but spent a good amount of my Sunday doing nothing but STITCHING!



For my August IHSW (International Hermit and Stitch Weekend) I was able to finish page 1 of Tamlin:

Before:

And After:

I printed a color copy of the artwork for comparison's sake.  



I'm also a bit late on my TUSAL for August, so I guess it is better late than never!

My TUSAL jar is pretty empty this month.......I'll have to make up for it this month!   This is a picture next to the Olympic Torch my daughter Kella made in her daycare class  :)



Also..just a reminder to everyone that I'm having a giveaway of 3 different Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum charts.....which ends this Sunday (August 26) at noon EST.   Enter enter enter! :)


I can't believe Fall is just around the corner!  Yippee!  My favorite season and time of the year!


-lesli

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

Warning - This post contains a bunch of pictures and not much stitching! :)


I am officially back from vacation and hating it!!   That first day back to reality is such a bummer.....

This post is going to jump around a lot (I have so much to share!) so put your seatbelt on and enjoy the bumpy ride!

First off.......Friday, my hubby and I celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary.  FIFTEEN years!?  Where does all the time go!?  

Here's a picture of us wayyyy back then:

Now that I've shared that bit of news, here are some pictures of my babies taken at Deer Valley in Park City, Utah.  We attended a gorgeous wedding there on Saturday for my cousin.


Sebastian



Kella (and daddy)

 The weather was WONDERFUL....nice and sunny during the day and at night it was cool and calm.   I might need to consider moving back to Utah   :)

Let's see..... before I left for my time off, I had decided on an Olympic HAED start.  While on vacation, I found bits and pieces of stitching time (very tiny bits!) and here is a picture of my progress:

I was able to get a half page completed...barely!   Hoping to get more time on it this week and weekend.

Now for the best part of today's post.....gifties!

While I was away I was blessed with some wonderful gifts from stitching friends!   I truly believe that if everyone in the world stitched, we'd be one happy planet full of people.  Stitchers are the nicest peeps I know!

Lesleyanne of Lesleyanne's Life of Stitches sent me the dreamy HAED chart of Ten Suns by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law:

I am so in love with SPML's work...and I just love the colors in this piece.  THANK YOU again, Lesleyanne!!


I was also gifted this gorgeous chart from Michelle, a fellow stitcher I met on one of the HAED Facebook groups.  This chart is QS Seasons 2 by Nadia Strelkina:

She tried sending it to me anonymously, but I wouldln't be able to sleep not knowing who the generous soul was who sent this!  Luckily I figured it out and was able to properly thank her.

I was also sent this lavish hand dyed silk fiber from Ewa at Cross Stitch and Other Musings:

The picture doesn't do the colors of this silk justice....it has a combination of hues of purples and blues.  I already have some ideas of how I want to use it.  I've never indulged in silks before so I'm excited to use this!   Thank you for spoiling me, Ewa! 

All these fantabulous gifts....what is a girl to do but grin from ear to ear!?   :)

I know we had a WIPocalypse update due the first of this month, but I'm so behind .....I've decided to skip that one and post an update at the end of the month.  (Since this month has two Full Moon dates, I'm ok with skipping one of them!)

I also changed my rotation/task list a bit.   I have one piece I really need to get done in time to be framed for Christmas and I'd also like to get more progress done on the other charts I have...so I've PROMISED myself no new starts until the end of the year....when I plan to start Knock at the Door by Aimee Stewart. 

While on vacation I purchased all the necessary floss for the chart, so now I just need some fabric and I'll be set to begin in November or December.  (I could resist on buying the floss...it was on sale for only $0.23 per skein!)

Sooooooo.....sorry for such a long post... two weeks is a long time to fit into one post! 

Once I get settled back into reality and also get some laundry done...I'll be able to sit back and catch up on your  blogs!!


-lesli

New "Olympic" Start

A fellow stitcher on the HAED BB shared that it was a tradition of hers to start a new piece for the Olympics.  I thought this was a brilliant idea!   Who doesn't love a new start!?  and this way, I have 4 years to finish until the next one comes around.

There are quite a few of us from some HAED Facebook groups that caught onto the idea and will be starting something new tomorrow.

This works perfectly with the fact that I'm also about to go on VACATION!!   So I'll take my new start along with me.

My new piece is the beautiful chart that Michele of HAED gifted to me....Tamlin.  I have all my floss kitted up and my fabric is mostly ready to go (need to add some gridding).

I know I've already posted pictures of it....but I can't help myself from posting them again because I think it is sublime!

This piece is made up of 3 seperate images and the chart has them all together as one.  I will be stitching them seperately, as I think I'll enjoy having them framed seperately a bit better.   There are better images of it in my last post, if you want to see them close up! 


I had high hopes of finishing page 3 of Cathedral before the Olympics began, but I just wasn't able to get enough time in to make my deadline :(

Here's my progress:

I've really enjoyed this page....the lighter colors of the branches in the sunlight are starting to begin.   I'll finish this page up when I get back.


This has been a super busy week for me...trying to tie up loose ends for work to ensure nothing blows up while I'm gone, trying to get some stitching time in and getting everything ready for our trip.   So what an absolute delight it was when the beautiful Liz (also known as Radidragon on the HAED BB) RAKd me this breathtaking gem:

This is Knock at the Door by Aimee Stewart.   The day it was released I fell in love with it.

Now...what you also need to know about this chart is it's the biggest one on the site.   It is 875 stitches by 875 stitches.   EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE! :)   

That is 765,625 little x's!   On 25 count fabric that measures to be a 35 inch x 35 inch beauty (not counting any border)!   I can only hope I can find fabric that is big enough!! 

My plan is to power through as many of my WIPs until December, and make this my year end shabang of a start!   I say this is my plan, because knowing my will power, it will end up being a new start much sooner than that.


So I'm off for my vacation on Saturday, and will most likely have to have a late WIPocalypse post.   I'll jump online to catch up on everyone's blogs and progress whenever I can!


So in the words of the Terminator.......  I'll Be Back!



-lesli

July IHSW and a Giftie

My IHSW time was incredibly tiny this month!   Hubs and I spent Saturday helping friends pack and move...I was so worn out at night that I barely got any stitching done!  Sunday was spent shopping .....and getting a pedicure (pedi vs. stiching....it was a difficult decision!)

I did get some time in, working on Cathedral -

Before the weekend:

After the weekend:

This is the top half of page 3...hopefully I can finish it off this week!



Now for the "Giftie" part of my title!

Friday after work I was catching up on emails and I noticed I had recieved one from Michele, the owner of Heaven and Earth Designs.  It was titled, "Giftie".    I opened it up and I just know I had a HUGE grin on my face at that moment......She had gifted me a chart I have been drooling over, Tamlin by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law (SPML).  Michele gifted quite a few folks charts in the last little while....she is such an awe-inspiring woman!


Here's a picture of the chart:

Now the image of the chart doesn't do the artwork justice, because it's so small.....so here are pictures of the 3 images that make up this chart, from SPML's site.

The first image on the left is called The Rose:

The middle image is called The Faery Host:

And the last image is called The Knight:

"Tam Lin is about a young man who is the captive of the faeries, and the young woman who rescues him. The main character, depending on your viewpoint, is either the young woman, who becomes pregnant by her enchanted lover and must rescue him before the faeries can sacrifice him, or the young man who had been living with the faeries and wishes to escape to live in the human world. The story deals with transformations, courage, and the relationship between the faeries and the mortals" - Tam-Lin.org

There are so many 'versions' of the story you can find....as well as folksongs.  SPML refers to version Child 39A on her site, and it is such an interesting story/ballad to read!


I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend ....spent with friends, family and some floss!   :)



-lesli