And then there were - none :)

Well, no squares left that is. I've gotten all the squares done on Six bats and a Witch's Hat and just have the border left. So, here's how Six Bats looks now. The border is so repetitive, really no counting involved. Hopefully with just this little bit left I can stay focused on it and get it done. If I finish by the end of July, I'll have time to do the actual finishing and be able to have it for this coming Halloween. Although the end of July is a bit later than I thought a while ago that I'd get it done by, I had thought maybe the end of May, it is still earlier than the October timeline I'd originally targeted for this one.

I loved doing all the little squares, they were quite like individual finishes and completing each was a fun quick sense of accomplishment. However, with everything that started to happen at work, even the little bit of counting that entailed recently seemed to much for my mind to handle at the end of the day. While work is still crazy, with the way the border is designed, I'll be able to work on that even when I am brain dead in the evening. They finally decided what they were going to do with our office. I'd mentioned earlier the plant attached to our building was closing, but as we had other plants, they weren't sure what they'd do with our office, so the uncertainty has been fairly hard on the nerves. In addition, as people were let go, or decided to leave, the work load kept shifting, causing some issues there as well. Well they decided to move the office to another state, which for a variety of reasons is not possible for me. So...in the near future I'll be job hunting. I'll have a bit of time as they still need to train new people and transition the work our office does, but the end is in sight. Hopefully I can find something fairly quickly, but the job statistics that came out for June sure weren't promising, and Michigan seems to be fairing worse than a lot of other states employment wise to begin with.

Now, onto something a little more positive. Yesterday I spent a wonderful day with my DSIL Kim. We went shopping in the morning at Stitching Bits and Bobs and then spent all afternoon stitching. While I've been to SBB's website, we'd never actually been able to visit the store. We had a lovely time looking around, and I bought myself some early birthday stash as they were having a 20% off sale. Here are the goodies I got. The first two I picked up were Waxing Moon Designs, Hocus Pocus and Simply Halloween

I loved the layout of these two, with the little motifs mixed in. Add in the fact they were Halloween themes and I couldn't resist.

The other design I couldn't resist was Bless My Garden by Val's Stuff

The little rabbit had such a cheeky grin as he was stealing the flower and holding it in his mouth. Almost like he was saying Hee Hee Hee, look what I got. This was also done as a shop model, which was even cuter done up. I also got the supplies to do this little guy.Aren't the colors wonderful? The fabric is 28 ct. linen in Water Cress so will be easy on my eyes. While not Halloween, I loved the bright fun colors and am really looking forward to working on this.

Finally I got two lovely items in the mail too. First off, Dee earlier finished Summer Foursome by Pine Mountain. I love Pine Mountain tuck designs, and this was so cute. She was offering the pattern as she was done with it, and I was the lucky recipient. So I'll have that to work on. Also,Blue Ribbon Designs recently had a contest and I was one of six winners of one of her lovely designs. We got to chose which design we'd like, and I chose Postcard from Paradise. This will be a very fun summery piece to do. Well I think that's about all for now, so now I'm off to try and catch up on what all you've been doing.

Cat Mats and Stashing

Well in my last post I said I thought I'd be done with Six Bats the end of May. Funny how things don't seem to work out the way you plan sometimes. Since my last picture I've only completed one and a half more squares, not even enough for an updated picture. I've got to get moving on this, my SAL partner Kim is done with hers and I'd like to be done with mine now by the end of June. Kim's Luck, Letters, and Leprechauns turned out wonderfully. I love the greens, at some point I want to stitch this for myself as well.

While I haven't gotten in much stitching, I've just been to tired when I get home to focus, I have gotten four cat mats done for the animal shelter. These are so easy to make and really don't require much focus. I did three in double crochet and the fourth is knitted, they all measure about 20x28 inches. They should give a small furry body a soft place to snuggle up. I'll be dropping these off along with some dog chewies we have. The chewies are a basted, stuffed, rawhide roll that Sasha used to love. However, all Jazmine wants to do is lick the basting off and then ignore them. So, I'll get Jaz some of the type she likes more and give the several packages of the ones I had on hand of the other to the shelter where a dog there may appreciate them a bit more than just for the outside basting.

While I haven't been stitching much, I did do a bit of shopping when Stitches n Things had their recent sale. I timed it for when they did their Memorial weekend one and got a nice discount on these goodies. I actually had to take the picture twice as the first shot I had a helper that covered up the lovely Lizzie Kate ones I got.
As cute as Isis is, and she certainly thinks she's helpful, I did want to show the fun Halloween ones. With these last three Halloween flips I have the whole series now. I'm so looking forward to doing this. Ranae just finished this series on a great green fabric and it looks wonderful (her May 13 entry). The other goodie was Beach Cottage, I love the blues and it reminds me a bit of the cottage my grandparents had on the lake that I used to visit often when I was younger.

Well that's it for now, hopefully my next post won't be so long in coming as this one was and I'll have a nice update (if not a finish) of Six Bats.

And then there were 10

Well, ten squares and the border that is. From the original 81 squares and border I'm down to just 10 and the border to do. My griding of all the little boxes is done, and, surprise, surprise, they all ended up lining up. With all the stupid mistakes I've made in this I figured I'd be off somewhere, but I wasn't. How hard can it be to place an X correctly in a small, already defined, square, or to put the correct design in the correct box? Evidently for me, and as brain dead as I've been lately, it was to much of a challenge. However, Six Bats is a very forgiving pattern, and in almost all cases I was able to work around my errors and most I can't even find anymore. So, here is my current progress

This is going much faster than I thought it would when I first started it with Kim as a SAL. Her piece, Luck, has moved even quicker for her (she's down to 9 squares and just 3 sides of the border left). My original thought when we first picked it was to do about 3 squares a week and finish up early Oct. I've been able to average closer to 5 squares a week, and am looking to being done by the end of May.

We haven't decided what our next SAL will be, Lizzy Kate's word series Living with Charm was our SAL before our current one, but at the moment we seem to be leaning towards Shepherd's Bush. Kim has Wandering Shepherd and I have The Goblins (you'd never know I liked Halloween projects would you, LOL). These are both kits and as they are already in our respective stash piles it's a plus too.

A finish and camp stash

Sometimes I just don't know where the time goes. It's been two weeks since I've been here, and over two weeks since I was able to visit blogs. Hopefully I'll be able to start catching up soon. As to what I've been doing, work seems to be taking up a larger portion of my time. We've had a couple plant closures and layoffs. So while I'm thankful I still have a job, the stress level, and amount of things to be dealt with, have definitely increased. In addition, road construction season has begun, so my normal rather long daily commute just got longer. Therefore, not a whole lot of stitching going on due to just not as many hours in the day.

I have managed one finish. The SanMan board is having a Twelve days of Halloween stitch along where we are doing one Halloween pattern a month. I just finished the February one, given it just turned April, not especially on time, but still a finish (forgive the wrinkles I haven't ironed it yet).

Like my earlier one, this was also done on 18ct Light Fiddler Cloth with DMC.

Not enough of progress on Six Bats since my last post to show, so that will be for another post. However, I do have my new stash from camp to show

These Blue Ribbon Designs were some I've had my eye on since they first turned up, and the little Love Birds by Miss Crescents Colours I just thought were so cute they hopped (or fluttered) right into my basket too.

Quaker Gone Tropic was also on my wish list from the time it appeared. I won't be doing it with the Silk n Colors it calls for, instead I decided on these four by Cresent Colours. I think they are gorgeous and can't wait to get this one started. When Kim and I go to Camp Stitch a Lot we always start out with a preliminary road trip. Rocking Horse in Farmington has an awesome display of finished models, so we start out there. While there I picked up the cute little Ghost kit. He comes with the pattern, fabric, floss, and frame and is one of their shop exclusives. After Rocking Horse we stop for lunch and then move onto Deb's. All my other goodies were from my shopping trip to Stitches n Things. After we finished up there, it was onto camp for the weekend.

Once I got to camp, here are are the free designs I got. Generally every year at camp people bring patterns that they no longer plan on doing and put them on the swap table. These three caught my eye right off. I love the little mice on Mini Creations, and the words (especially the crows) were just to fun. Finally, who could resist the Go For It with the surprised cat.

In addition to my earlier goodies, we got goodie bags from Deb. These were just some of the fun stuff in my bag (which was a fantastic oversized plastic tote that will hold large projects wonderfully). Unfortunately I waited to long to take a picture of my goodie bag stuff and some of it has already been eaten or moved and I couldn't find it. Then after I got this picture I realized I'd forgotten my lovely carry bag it all came in. Oh well, you get the idea of the goodies.

Camp Stitch a Lot just flew by way to fast. With all the fun chatter, munching, seeing what everyone was working on, and seeing the class projects that were taught it was a fantastic weekend. Sunday Kim and I headed back home stopping to eat and then at JoAnn's. I had two 40% off coupons and there is one of the large JoAnn's right off the highway we were on. We each got a large roll of Monaco fabric (20x24 inches) for about $3, not a bad way to end the weekend. Monaco, with being an evenweave and having such nice holes to see, is what I'm thinking of doing Quaker Gone Tropic on, as the white should really make the colors I picked pop. I wanted a plain white rather then colored fabric so it wouldn't compete with the colors I picked. However, my fabric choice may very well change by the time I start.

Well I'm off to take Jaz for a nice slow and short walk. The previous lump on her leg, while it went down some, wouldn't totally go away, and it kept bleeding a little. With the lump and not healing, the vet suggested the lump really should come out so it could be checked and I agreed. So... Jaz also had surgery this past week (told you it's been crazy lately). The lump turned out to be a nasty cyst that was under the skin far enough it wouldn't heal. The cyst is gone now, and Jaz's leg is working on healing up. We'll go back next week to have the stitches out. In the meantime, short walks, no running, jumping, etc... Good thing in a way she's 12, as running and jumping really aren't what she's into much anymore anyway. Unless she sees a squirrel to close to her, all bets seem to be off if a squirrel in her yard seems to get to bold.

Framing, a finish, progress, and a visitor

First up, the framing I actually stayed focused this past week and got my framing of Joyful Summer done. This is the frame I got for $10. It's wood, but not the normal brown tones, it has an underlying hint of a greenish/blue cast to it which I thought picked up the green and blue colors in the piece. I started looking at regular wood frames first, but they seemed to harsh next to the piece. It's now up and hanging and I smile when I pass it. Summer really does seem to be on its way, as lately the weather seems to be much improved. Fingers crossed it stays that way, however, it's early yet for Michigan so we still may get another burst of winter before spring is here to stay.

Next up is my new finish I did this for my daughter, I'm going to tuck it into her Easter card. She has a small stuffed mouse that travels all over with her, it's kind of her mascot. Checkers went to college with her, traveled to work at Disneyworld two summers, did an alternate break in the Florida everglades working with alligators, went all over Italy/Spain/France/England when she had a student exchange, and now goes all over the country with her on the circus train. Checkers is quite the well traveled mouse. So, I thought another little mouse would make a fun companion to hang on her wall. This was a flat tuck and design by SanMan Originals done on 28 ct. Monaco and quite fun to do.

I also got quite a bit done on Six Bats and a Witches Hat This piece is moving quite quickly. Of course it helped that I had quite a bit of uninterrupted time to work on it this weekend, since I was working on Cheese earlier in the week, but more on my weekend in a bit.

Finally, here's an update on the newest visitor to be captured for my wildlife in the city pictures.


Isn't he (she?) a cutie. Normally I don't care for possums, their tail is kind of nasty looking. However, I just thought he was so cute hanging out in the bush. When I first went out he was on the ground by my bird feeder, but when he saw me he scooted off into the bush and climbed up the fence. However, he must have felt safe in the bush, as he stayed there while I went in and got my camera and came back out. I was able to get within about 5 ft. of him, with him just looking at me. If I focus on his face, with his little pink nose, I do think he's kind of cute. Needless to say Jaz wanted to come out and say hi too, but I figured that might not go over to well, so Jaz had to stay inside until he finally ambled off (she was not to pleased with that).

As to my weekend, I got quite a bit of stitching in as I was at Camp Stitchalot this past weekend, which was hosted by Stitches n Things. I had a wonderful time, lots of chatting, munching, stitching, and laughs. I'll post some pictures of my lovely new stitchy stash later, as well as tell a little about all we did. In closing, thanks to all of you for your continued good wishes for Jaz. Her leg seems to be doing much better, the bump has gone down quite a bit. It still has to stay wrapped until it is totally gone, but it seems that with just a little more time she'll be back to normal with no more medicine or anything needed.

A finish, a visit, and some awards

Well it's done, and just in time for the start (hopefully) of some lovely spring like weather. I finished up Joyful Summer by Country Cottage Needleworks the other evening.

I loved working on this piece. The fabric color (blue is my favorite) and the fun and colorful birds and flowers made me smile. This was a perfect pick me up piece. The fabric is 28 ct Little Boy Blue linen and I used Crescent Colours (always lovely to work with) and DMC. Even the french knots in this worked well for me (and those usually I have a horrible time getting to look right). Yesterday I was over at JoAnns and found a frame I liked on sale for $10. It was one that had artwork in it, so I'll need to open it up and take the current picture out and then frame this up, but I think it will look good when done, and $10 for a nice frame is hard to beat.

Yesterday I spent the day at Kim's. It had been a while since we (my parents and I) had been able to visit my brother and his family, and since the weather was bright and sunny, everyone was well at the moment, and my brother is having his birthday this week we headed there for the day. We had a lovely visit, went out for pizza, and Kim and I got to stitch some. It is so nice having a SIL that I can not only count as a good friend but that also shares my love of stitching. We got to compare our progress on our BRD SAL that we are doing. While we'd seen the design and fabric we were going to use, we hadn't gotten together to see each others progress since we'd started. Luck is so cute in real life, I'll enjoy stitching it when we swap patterns. I also got to see several others of Kim's recent finishes, and got to show off Joyful Summer. A very fun day.

Recently I received two awards, the first is from Lizzie
Thanks Lizzy, it is such fun to have a place like blogger to show off our stitchy finishes, furbabies, and such. Now I am supposed to list my five addictions and also nominate five bloggers...

As for my addictions, only five hmmm that's a challenge
- My daughter, she's the light of my life and challenges me to try things that are out of my comfort zone. Also, she's the only one I can actually say has ran away and joined the circus, yup, she's the adventuresome type (she so does not take after me in that way).
- My furbabies, they're always so glad to see me no matter what, especially if I come bearing treats. :)
- My stitching, I love being able to see it grow, know I'm creating it, and it is my stress reliever and helps keep me sane in this crazy world
- My books, I love to read, and will read just about anything. It's a wonderful escape from everyday issues, and as with stitching keeps the stress at a lower level and me reasonably sane.
- My treats, Chocolate, Coke, Diet Dr. Pepper, and Chai tea or Mocha Cappuccinos, all so yummy (now if I could just get addicted to exercise to offset them a bit, LOL).

I'm supposed to name five others for this award, it is so hard to chose, I love all your blogs and would really give this to everyone. But lets see, to keep the award moving

Dee

Kim

Tammy

Meari

Carol

I also got this fun award from Judy Thanks, Judy, I love to get comments and so try to comment on others.

Again, I need to pass this on to five other bloggers, all of whom I think have wonderful blogs to look at, as well as leaving such lovely comments. Again, it is so hard to pick out just a few. Really, if I visit your blogs I think you're all awesome.

Claudia

Lizzie

Ranae

Sue

Lynn

Well, it is bright and sunny so I'm off to do errands. While still cold (only about 40F), there is no snow and we've got beautiful sun. Spring may be on its way.

Spring and hot pink accessories

Ok, I'm just to impatient to wait for spring, I needed a spring fix and I needed it now. So, what to do you when you need spring and it's not here yet? You stitch it :)

With that said, this week was my mother's birthday, she really enjoys gardening and always has such beautiful flowers and such. As part of her present I decided to make her this to hang by her back window where she can see a large section of her garden.

It's a SanMan Originals design, and the little tuck to finish it with came with it. I used 28ct antique white Monaco and DMC. Monaco is such an easy fabric to stitch on, and so easy on the eyes. Other than a couple times, the frogs were quite kind and didn't bother me at all.

After I finished Garden, I picked up Joyful Summer by CCN which kind of got put on hold when I was working so much on Six Bats.

I love this design. Blue is my favorite color, so I love looking at it. In addition, the coloring and the little birds are such fun and so cute. As with Garden, so far the frogs have been kind on this one too, even the french knots for the eyes have gone well. I've just started putting in the last row on the bottom, so as you can see it just fits into the Q's. Only a couple leaves and a couple small flowers to go and I'll have another finish. Isn't this a great spring piece.

On a final note, I'll leave you with a picture of Miss Jazmine, who seems to think her life is quite hard at the moment. We've been getting a bit of rain lately, which she doesn't like (think wicked witch of the west and an I'm melting scenario when she has to go out). If she had her way I'd go out with her and hold an umbrella for her each time. Water she likes, wade in it, splash, roll around and then come back in the house and shake (joy, wet dog smell). However, falling on her head, nope not in her idea of what is acceptable. In addition, she has a nasty lump on her leg with a sore in the middle. Off to the vets we went so it could be checked out. Not sure what caused it, but now that she has it she won't leave it alone. Not infected, so she doesn't need antibiotics (thankfully), but very itchy. So now we have topical cream for the itch and healing, and have to keep it wrapped so she leaves it alone.

Doesn't the hot pink legging brighten things up? And this is the poor pitiful look she keeps giving me. Ignore the bit of paper on her lower lip, she'd just got through trying to get some goodies out of, or should I say through, a grocery bag when I wasn't looking, she's so helpful at times, and I didn't notice a piece had stuck until after the picture. Not sure why the coloring is so off in the picture, in reality the bandage is hot pink and the carpet beige, somehow everything ended up with a yellow cast. By the end of this if I'm not careful she'll have gained several pounds as she seems to think pitiful looks get cookies, and so far it's working (I'm such a pushover).