Catching up...

Hey all,

Quick post to catch up. :)

I finished Easter Parade. Such a cute, fun stitch. I love eyelet stitches, and this design is full of them. I also love the purple border (GAST Berry Cobbler).

I broke down and ordered the rest of the NPIs I needed for CaHRH. I had been trying to order them a block at a time as needed to spread out the cost, but we know from my last post that obviously that wasn't working for me. I finished both blocks 2 and 3 this month. I have started block 4 and would like to complete it and block 5 during April. The bazillion white snowflakes on block 4 are already getting to me however.

I also started a couple of things...

Rise and Shine by Bent Creek. This is a cute little all inclusive kit that came packaged in a coffee bag. This will look cute hanging in my kitchen eventually.

And I started the Blackbird Designs series Anniversaries of the Heart. I am following Nicole's lead and stitching these on 40 ct. Meadow Rue (I hope she doesn't mind me copycatting). I am looking forward to all of the personalizing that I will get to do with this series.

I also rearranged my WIP storage. I had been keeping tons of projects in mesh project bags stored in a basket in my sitting room, which was fine and working, but messy looking. I had so many that I was having a hard time narrowing my focus. So I decided I needed a different solution that would allow me to have variety but not too much as to be overwhelming. I repurposed a little 7-drawer cart that I had been using for scrapbooking. This has been perfect. I have a project per drawer. The drawers are lidded so it is very easy to pull a drawer and go stitch in any room. All the supplies needed for each project are in the drawer, so it stays pretty organized.

If you look carefully in the above picture you will see a cookie sheet next to the drawer unit. I have found that I prefer using these with magnets to hold my charts and keep my place. I have one of the smaller boards that is specifically for stitching, but found I like this better. It looks a little silly, I guess, but it works.

My stitching has taken a backseat lately to reading. Michael surprised me with a nook as an early anniversary gift. I love it. I don't want to put it down. It is so much fun (and a little dangerous!) to be able to shop for books anytime. I have been keeping myself in check though. I am trying to order one book at a time and wait until I have finished it before ordering another one. Currently I am rereading "Voyager" by Diana Gabaldon, and I am enjoying it just as much the second time around, as it has been several years since I last read this series. I am really enjoying the free sample feature that you can use with the nook/Barnes and Noble. As I see books that I think I would like to read eventually, I download the sample chapter so that I will remember the book and be able to check it out more in depth before committing to the purchase. I thought I might would miss holding an actual book in my hand and turning the pages, but not a bit. If you have a favorite book that you would recommend, I would love to hear about it. I am always interested in reading new material and new-to-me authors.

One more week of work and then we are off for a week of spring break!! I am hoping to travel a little and do some home improvement projects...more on that later.

Until next time.....

NPI woes...

I would have finished block 2 of CaHRH by the end of last weekend, if I had had NPI 871 like I thought that I did. I thought that I had all of the silks I needed for block 2, but I guess that is what I get for thinking. LOL! So, aggravated but still determined, I dashed off a quick order to Needlecraft Corner and promptly began block 3 which I was sure I had all the supplies for. See that pretty, unfinished pineapple in the picture below. It lacks NPI 313 which I also thought I had. That did me in.

It took me less than 10 seconds after discovering my lack of 313 to chuck that baby into a project bag and put it back into WIP oblivion. To ease my frustration, I promptly started BBD's Easter Parade (which thankfully I seem to have all the threads for...at this point anyway!).

Needless to say, I will be dashing off another quick order to Drema because I am determined to get both of these blocks finished before the end of March and get back on my (self-imposed) schedule.

In other news...

I was recently honored with an award from both Jolene and Faye. I greatly appreciate that both of them thought of me. :)

I am supposed to tell seven little known or unique facts about myself. So here they are, in no particular order...

1. I am a Disney fanatic. I have turned my husband and son into Disney fanatics as well. We try to visit the parks for an extended vacation each year. I scour the internet for tips and trivia. My friends ask for my help in planning their trips. My basement bathroom and one of my school offices is Disney themed, and that decor is starting to leak into other areas of my home as well. I have more Disney art on my walls than cross-stitch.

2. I love electronic equipment--computers, phones, iPods, flat screen TVs, gadgets, etc. I jokingly tell my husband that I would rather have the latest electronic gizmo than jewelry for special occasion gifts. (Honey, if you are reading this, a Nook for my birthday would be fabulous!!).

3. I sing. I am a member of my church's praise team, and I love it. I much prefer singing with a group as opposed to singing solo, however.

4. I've been cross-stitching for 20 years, but feel like I have so little to show for that amount of time. I gave a lot of stuff away, and I have a lot of stuff stored. I have very few stitched pieces hanging in my home, but I am making an effort to change that before the end of the year by either framing some things myself or having them custom framed.

5. I once met John Travolta in a Red Lobster in Florida and got his autograph. I was (am) a huge fan of Grease, so you can imagine how excited I was.

6. My husband's middle name and my first name are the same--Kellie/Kelly.

7. I met my husband on a blind date that I VERY reluctantly agreed to. Almost 14 happy years of marriage and a wonderful eight year old son later, I am so glad I didn't back out.

There you have it... a little glimpse of me that you didn't know previously. LOL! I am supposed to pass this on to seven blogs I love, and there are so many to choose to from that I love. And I am not sure who has been selected already and who hasn't, but here are my nominations...

Natalie - a . stitch . in . time

Doris - A Pause in the Journey

Natasha - A Stitcher's Ramblings

Lainey - Lainey's Stitching Hoose

Nicole - Nicole's Needlework

Siobhan - Notes from Blue Hen Hollow

Melissa - Words and Blooms

If you want to accept this award, the following are the list of rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.

2. Paste the award on your blog.

3. Link to the person who nominated you.

4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself.

5. Nominate 7 blogs and post links.

We are going to see Alice in Wonderland tomorrow night in 3D (refer to #1 in my list above... LOL!). I can't wait!

Well, Survivor and stitching are calling, along with a pan of snickerdoodles....

Kellie

Plugging away...

My stitching has been really scattered lately. I have stitched a lot, but I have picked up and put down so many different projects that I really don't have a lot of progress on anything to show for the last couple of weeks.

However, the last couple of days I have consistently worked on block 2 of CaHRH. I am hoping to have this block finished before the end of the weekend.

I also want to say a big thank you to Lainey. I recently won a giveaway on her blog. The picture below is what it looked like when I first received it. It was like Christmas in an envelope. :) To see what I won, click on her name above. It was very nice and very generous, and I really appreciate all of it... Thank you, Lainey!

Here's hoping all of you have a wonderful weekend full of little x's. :)

Have a good one!

Headless Molly....

Is headless no more! :) And a little birdy has landed on the cat's head.

My snow/all-day-stitch-athons have come to an end. It is back to work tomorrow. I am glad and sad. I will miss the time at home, but I do not want to go all summer. These snow days are edging the end of school a little too close to our already scheduled vacation to Disney. So far, so good, and maybe this will be the end of it, I hope.

I am off to stitch while watching American Idol and Lost. I will do more watching than stitching with Lost, I am sure (or I will be lost! LOL!). Any Lost fans out there?

Be Kind and Be True Finished

I spent my snow days stitching and finishing Be Kind and Be True. I like how it turned out. I want to eventually get this framed and hang it in my bedroom.

Be Kind and Be True

With Thy Needle and Thread

36 ct. Flax

DMC threads

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. We did not celebrate in a big way this year. Our iPhones from a couple of weeks ago were our Valentine's Day present to each other. The three of us went out to dinner last night, and it was nice to get out of the house. Jake brought home a rose in a vase for me over the weekend. He is a very thoughtful boy and always tries to do special things for me. He spotted the roses in our local grocery store last week when I sent him and his dad on an errand. Michael is very good about "helping" him do things like this. I am a lucky girl to have such a great son and a great husband.

I haven't been to work in a week (not that I am complaining...). We are out again today. Not sure if we will go back tomorrow. We didn't get a lot of snow this round, but it will depend on how well the back roads get cleared today.

Since finishing BK&BT, I have been working on Molly by Carriage House Samplings. Seeing Siobhan's finish of Mary Margaret and my mom commenting on Molly's cat being pretty has spurred me forward on her. :) She is fun to stitch. I love the fabric (Lakeside Linen Vintage Autumn Gold) and the silks. I had been stitching in qsnaps lately, but went back to stitching in hand with BK&BT and Molly and had forgotten how much faster I can stitch when I am stitching in hand. It has been a nice change of pace.

Short post today....

Have a good one. Stay warm!

Snow Day!

Here is the scene outside the window of my sitting/stitching room....

I love snow. I think it is so pretty, and I love to watch it falling. (I know some of you aren't feeling the love for the white stuff right now.. .especially my friends in the eastern part of the country who have experienced a blizzard with what seems continuous new snowfall). This particular snow fall has landed us a snow day from school/work and I am quite thrilled with that. We can't have too many more though... I want school to be out before June so that we can go to Disney as planned and not have to switch our dates around.

Still... what to do with this unexpected blissful day off? I think I will probably stitch and scrapbook and keep busy with crafty things. And I will probably fix a big pot of chili and some brownies as that just sounds yummy and perfectly appropriate for a day such as this.

I have been doing some stitching since I last posted. I started and finished a couple of Valentine smalls... (I even finished/finished them...) My goal is to eventually have enough smalls for each holiday/season to fill a wire basket that sits on my entryway table. I am a long way from it, but I am getting there.

I added a few more strands to Quakers and Quilts...

I started Be Kind and Be True (LOVING this one...It will probably see some stitching time from me today)

And I am continuing to stitch Paradise Lost...

I was doing so well on this one last night... making tons of progress on that bird tree... when I discovered a one stitch mistake in two of the leaves (I am not sure what to call them?) so basically I am in the process of frogging everything I stitched during my several hours of stitching/TV watching time. Grrrr....

I haven't stitched as much this week because I got a new "toy."

Michael and I joined the ranks of iPhone users... It has been so much fun to play with and figure out. I have been wanting one of these since they first came out. I wish there was a cross-stitching app. This is one area where there is not an "app for everything." I am wondering if it is possible to blog from it? Anyone know?

I am off to make a few phone calls, send a few texts, and see where the day goes from here. I am thinking that Be Kind is going to fly into my hands any minute....

Hope you are having a great day wherever you are... snowy or otherwise. :)

What to stitch?

I am looking forward to a stitchy weekend, but so many things are calling to me that I don't know what to work on first. (warning...lots of pictures...)

I did finish a little quick LK design this week. I hope to finish/finish this one this weekend.

I am going to quit posting any intentions here. The minute I do, I no longer want to work on whatever I had in mind. LOL! I think in my last post, I wanted to finish an LHN ornament and Block 2 of CaHRH this week. Didn't happen. I have picked up, stitched a little, and put down a number of projects this week, including...

Quaker and Quilts

Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow

Mediterranean Mermaid

(started this last weekend)

There are several other things, in addition to those above, that are also "calling" to me...

Paradise Lost

Molly

Be Kind and Be True (a new start)

Decisions....decisions. Maybe I will just put some strands in all of them.

We are under a Winter Storm Warning right now. I love snow. I hope we get a big deep one this weekend. The mets here are forecasting 6+ inches. Jake is hoping to make a snowman and go sledding. He is eight. The deepest snow that he has experienced was about four inches when he was about four or five. I would love for him to get to have the fun of a really big snow this year. My dad recently refinished his sled that he had as a child and gave it to Jake. My dad is 65. The sled was given to him by his grandfather when he was six. So it is one of those neat, old time looking sleds with real metal runners and a wooden slat seat and steering mechanism. Jake can't wait to take it out in the snow, and that is exactly what Dad wants him to do with it... to enjoy it the same as he did when he was a boy and the same that my brother and I did when we were kids. Part of me hates to see it out in the snow, but the other part of me can't wait to get the pictures. I think I have a picture of my dad playing on that sled when he was little. I need to see if there are any pictures of me and my brother playing on the sled when we were kids. Wouldn't that make a great scrapbook page or look great in a frame that has a three photo spots? And I love the family history part of it... my son playing on a sled that came from his great, great grandfather.

Stay tuned... If we get a big snow, I will be posting snow pictures this weekend! :)

Have a good one!