February WIPocalypse Check In

Where has February gone to?  I know its the shortest month but I feel it went way to fast!

The beginning of my month was spent in Alaska with my family welcoming our first Grand baby into the world.

I call him Prince Declan

The beginning of the month also welcomed a cold that was relentless and I didn't feel like stitching much even on the airplane the trip home was about 30 hours and then we had to drive 3 hours.  The trip home was hectic and the first few days home were laid up in bed.. YUCK

I did pick back up my Candy Cane Santa Stocking from Dimension Gold Collection.  I had a goal in mind and that was to finish his face and I did that and a bit of back stitching too.. I can't wait to see more details come out when I return to this.  Great Progress for a week!

The debut for the month seemed to be Trick or Treat from Heaven and Earth Design.  A page finish just a day ago made this a huge treat for me.  I have lofty goals for this piece and I'm onto a great start.  Page three is complete and I felt elated to get it done.  For some reason when I have a page almost finished I get the dread of it will never get done.  I did get a page finish and some extra for February but for now here she is when I started and finished for February.

Question of the Month: What do you listen to while stitching?

I love this question because I do many things.  Sometimes watching TV with my husband because anytime spent together is good.  When I am home alone while stitching I listen to some floss tube or I should say catch up on some floss tube.  I seriously have an issue because when I find a person I really like I tend to watch ALL of them and some of them have lets just say 200+ I feel like I'll never catch up.  I also listen to books from the library I really enjoy that.    I've also gotten into podcast because they are fun to enjoy.  Some stitching ones and of course if its about Bigfoot I have to hear whats happening.  What should I read next is another one of my favorite Podcasts that really help me find new authors.  

Can't wait to see whats up next month with my stitching.  I don't have a rotation as of yet because I've not been able to sit down long enough to go through and see what I want to get done.  I do have Donner on my radar as I've gotten all of the rest of the threads to finish so I just might have to do that and get more credit for my Stitch from Stash.  

Have a wonderful Stitchy time everyone. Until next time 

Felt Like Ground Hog Week

Have you ever had that week that when it was over it was like Deja Vu well that is how my week went.  We had another snow day this past week and it came with Ice also and then of course rain.  The great thing about snow days are they make great stitching days too.

I've found this past week that managing time can be such a hard thing to do.  I love my work and love my family and of course I love all things crafts.. When things hit hard at home like your daughter being picked on because of acne it really makes my heart sink.  We've been struggling a bit and she is a tough young lady but soooo loves her makeup and refuses to wear that now too because she believes that's the problem (but its not).  I wished she didn't have to deal with turmoil and hard knocks of high school because kids can be so cruel.  When I got home she told me about it and I suggested we watch a movie and eat some ice cream and she refused.  She wanted to finish her homework and just not talk about it anymore.  I told my husband what happened and he was sweet and stopped by the local Sheetz and got her favorite drink and brought it home to surprise her.  He is a very sweet man and isn't given enough credit sometimes.  We've dealt with the emotions and work thought the issues but in the end the girls are still going to be mean no matter who it is they want to talk about.

But you didn't come here for my drama you came for some stitching updates right 😁

The beginning of the week I started a new project for a friend of mine. She has her second child and wanted a stocking done.  I told her I would work on it because she was already let down by another and I know how that feels.  I finally pulled it out after being so sick I didn't stitch that much and wanted to put as much effort as I could into it.  Welcome my new start Dimension Gold  Sleigh Ride at Dusk.  I felt great about how far I got this week even though the evening hours really don't give a lot of time to stitch.

As everyone knows I also try hard to work on my Trick or Treat Heaven and Earth Design and I am proud to say I have a page finish.  The excitement that comes from that task is unbelievable.  It makes me feel like my goal for getting all the way across is possible for 2019 but I'm not going to hold my breath.  But I do believe having a goal gives me something more to try to accomplish.

I've enjoyed my stitch week I hope you did also.

Week with no name

This week has started out amazing to me.  Most don't know this but I've been wanting to go to school for many years for Meteorology, I'm still not there just yet but I did put in my application for Penn State University for the weather program that you can get online.  While I am working on other classes I need I figured I might as well do whatever I can before I get accepted and maybe I'll be one step ahead of the game.  Waiting is always the worst aspect of anything and I didn't know how long before I would know if I was accepted.  Well, Valentine's Day was amazing not only because it's the day of LOVE but I got my acceptance for the program I applied for.  I needed to wait a few days while the process took place but by the end of the week I was already enrolled for summer 2019.  Good by stitches and hello homework.  The only good news is I don't work summers so I think I can balance both.

Tuesday gave us all a snow day.  We received a good 8 inches of snow and a good 1/4 inch of ice on top of that.  I don't have any photos to give you but I think we all know what it looks like and I agree I believe the ground hog was way wrong.  I loved the snow day because I really got to enjoy almost a full day of stitching minus the normal things like housework and making dinner.

The rest of the week went quickly and I enjoyed stitching time and really enjoyed how far I got on my Trick or Treat.  I went with a huge goal this week but knew I couldn't make it but I love to try.

My goal was a page finish this week but I did have a lot of work that needed to be done.  However; I am impressed with the work that did get done and I know a page finish is on the books before the end of February.

I think I'll put in some stitches in the morning before work and work on my next project after work.

So here is my before and after.

A little something to brighten your week because he sure brightens mine.  Prince Declan is now two weeks old.  I can't wait for them to visit this summer so I can get as many snuggles as humanly possible.

I really hope you all enjoy your week.

Happy Stitching Everyone
Carey

Little Things make us all happy

Made it back to Pennsylvania with loads of laundry and one nasty cold and some tired people.  I have traveled a ton in my time but for some reason this trip took it out of all of us.  I started a new job (one I've been doing 😉) but I officially was supposed to start on the fourth, little did I know this cold was worse than before and I was sent home for two days to recover.  As I type I am still not sure where I am with this nastiness but I hope I'm on the mend.  Monday proved no stitching what so ever, I didn't even feel like picking anything up and slept the day away.  I am unsure how I did this because the weather was AMAZING!!  Tuesday I did finally feel a bit better but then of course the house was a wreck to my standards.. I am unsure also how a 1000 sq ft home gets so dirty so fast, so I started in on my cleaning.. I think I wore myself out but I did get some great stitching in tonight while watching the State of the Union Address and watching many people sleeping while on national television.  I don't get into politics at all but my family knows where I stand and united would be amazing but I am not sure that will ever happen.

The rest of the week proved to be very tasking, taxes and getting this together for the week.  Children needed a bit more attention to get caught up on school work because they missed about a week of school.  I have not really gotten caught up on life in general but hopefully next week proves to be more normal (my normal) as much as we can get.

So this week my focus was on Candy Cane Santa Stocking that I started I believe during Maynia 2018.  I am unsure and will have to look back on progress but I have not put as much time into this piece as I would like to.  I have a feeling it will be back again very soon.  My goal was to finish his face and then whatever I did extra I would be super happy with.  I finished his face on Sunday and did some back stitching because I really wanted to see his face pop.  I only got one color into his eye brows so there is much more to do. As you can tell by the before photos he really got some great progress and I am so pleased with where he ended.

I was unsure what I was going to do this week coming up so I think I'll work on my Trick or Treat Heaven and Earth Design because its already set up and I don't feel good still and have no desire to work on anything else at this time.  So next week hopefully you will see some major progress on this project.  

Next week is a new week!  I hope its wonderful for everyone.  Tell me what you're stitching on this week! 

Carey

January WIPocalypse

I usually have a problem with the few weeks after Christmas.  All decorations get put away and the house seems a bit empty and everyone starts back in the routine of the home.  I don't have a problem with routine but this year I got to spend more time with my family and that was very nice.  I found the somber of regular routine this year.  With that being said I've gotten back into a routine of my stitching and into a great rotation.  I have found myself really the last few months just concentrating on my Trick or Treat Heaven and Earth Design and still enjoying it every day.  With the new year I need to get back on track again.  I miss changing out projects and seeing all the progress a few days can make.

Trick or Treat I found myself finishing another line in Page 3 which makes me so happy.  I am also using this project for Celtic Stitching parade, count those stitches and trying to make great progress. I'm also stitching Halloween all year long and this is a piece I'm using for that. I really wanted to work on my Mira but for some reason she has found a place in my house and is hiding, I'm scared because I can't find her and I really wanted to stitch on her this week but my next focal piece is my Sleepy Hollow from Glendon Place so that went on my scroll instead but progress on any project is progress.  I will have to try again to find my Christmas In London because she will be up next or I'll have to change my rotation all over again.

So here is my Trick or Treat HAED before and after I have felt I made lots of progress on this piece in January mind you I didn't stitch the lat month because I flew home to Alaska to welcome a new addition.  Surprise at the end.

This was my progress by the end of the month or should I say until we left for Alaska.  I did think about this the whole time but I had important things to do. 

While I couldn't find my Christmas in London I did stitch for two weeks on my Sleepy Hollow.  I honestly found myself not being able to put this down and Enjoyed stitching on it.  I can actually see some decent progress and also can see the ending of it.  This is great because this is a focal piece this year and would love to finish it before the end of the year or Halloween and have it hanging up would be a plus.

I did bring three projects with me on my trip to Alaska and I really only work on one while I was here.  Donner from Nora Corbett made its debut again.  This WIP was a 2018 Maynia start and I really have only worked on it a few times since then.  I've made huge strides on this piece and if I would have had a needle to do beading I would have started that too.  Next month I have put it in rotation for a finish in February.

The big celebration (was supposed to be in January) was the arrival of my Grandson Declan Mathew Mackenzie.  He arrived on Feb 2 @ 12:20 in the morning and I will say not a moment to late since Meme is getting on a flight to go home later that day.  My daughter past her due date on baby #1 so we had no idea when Baby D was going to make his appearance.  I did have a one on one conversation with this young man and he didn't disappoint.  The problem with this trip is I got really sick so no kisses only looking at him and I got to hold him.

QOM: This is usually a long winded one I see a SAL someone is doing and I usually jump in feet first but this year I searched and I honestly didn't see anything I really had to do.  So for traditional stitch alongs I have not done any but for motivation I've joined other groups that help keep you motivated like Celtic Stitches they have kept me motivated by doing little contests and have really pushed me to get a lot of work done.   When Maynia has a SAL that works with my WIPS I jump feet first.  I will do Maynia again this year but so far this month has been jam packed with adventure and tons of stitching.  Till next month Happy Stitching