A Weekend to Hermit

Ah, the one weekend each month to do nothing but stitch! It was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend and I made use of every second I could spare. Of course, one must do the laundry, dishes and take care of the gardens but for the most part, I stitched and stitched some more ~ Dash even cooked for me every meal! Yes, I know how lucky I am, girls...believe me.

So first up, I started my next Prairie Schooler "12 Days of Christmas" ornament 10 Lords a-Leaping and I made excellent progress:

Lynn, you aren't the only one with Zombie people! 

It was so hard to put this one down but I knew I had to start the next Traveling Pattern or I'd get behind. Wouldn't want anyone to think I was a flaker! Here is where I got to on that:

This is Tending the Blooms by Shepherd's Bush. I chose a very bright spring green linen I dyed a long time back. Wish you could see how pretty it is in person! However, since this is linen, it is terribly wrinkled and you can't see it in the picture but I'm weighting the edges down with my scissors and needle minder ~ lol!

I am so impressed with how much stitching I was able to do! There were some comments on my TUSAL post about how people wished they had as much time to stitch as I do. Really? Me? No way ~ I am still The Queen of Slow Stitching and don't anybody forget that! I work full time (and when I am not AT work I'm worrying about work) and I am the worlds worst about managing my time when I am home. I spend way too much time ogling blogs instead of stitching or even crashed in front of the TV because, poor me "I had a hard day." If we all actually put ourselves to it we could accomplish so much more than we do!

If you would like to join us for the next International Hermit and Stitch Weekend visit Joyce's blog for details. IHSW is the third full weekend of every month so the next one starts May 18th. Joyce usually has a sign up in advance so you can let everyone know you are "coming" that weekend.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Successful Hermitage

This past weekend was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend or IHSW. I am pleased to say I had a great one! Now, I will admit to snooping blogs a bit (but one has to keep up on their reader or it gets out of hand so fast) but for the most part I stitched and it was glorious. Lots of progress has been made on La D Da's A Bird in Hand:

Nina's threads are very pretty, with subtle variation in color. You can see more of them on her site ~ click here. Oh, and she is making pretty jewelry too ~ must see!

If you'd like to join us during the next IHSW it will be the 3rd full weekend in April. Click the link above for more information.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

The Ides of March Madness

It's Theme-a-licious and this is March Madness and here I sit at mid-month with only one project finished. What happened to half of March? I had plans for this. I was stitching. I was going like gangbusters ~ I stitched and finished an entire project and...got sidetracked. First, I was chosen by Nina to stitch A Bird in Hand using her hand dyed threads and then I was drawn on Anne's blog to stitch a traveling pattern. Whew, when it rains it pours. This wasn't what I had planned but it IS madness and it's fun and I will have a blast doing it.

A quick recap:

I stitched and finished this scissor pocket using Bent Creek's Red Winged Blackbird. Surprise! This was sent out as an RAK to someone that reads this blog. If I have your mailing address it might be you. If I don't have your address you might miss out so email it to me along with your blog address so I am reminded who you are ~ lol.

Here is my progress on A Bird in Hand:

Seriously weird tint to the colors here but you get the idea. So far this is a great stitch. Nina's threads are very nice! This is my first La D Da stitch and I think I'm hooked.

This next picture is Anne's Traveling Pattern finish not mine:

Isn't that a cutie? I'm looking forward to stitching this. I've been trying to decide on my colors and that can take me forever! Be sure to stay tuned to this blog if you'd like to stitch this one after me. I'll be hosting the drawing for it as soon as I can get it stitched.

It's madness at my stitching desk! It's a good thing this weekend is International Hermit and Stitch Weekend or IHSW as you may have seen on blogs. I have plans to let everything else go hang while I catch up on my stitching.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

A Fat Tuesday ORT Report

It's a New Moon! Here is my ORT report for February. I really liked the way the photograph turned out last month so I did the same again today. I could have added some Mardi gras beads but I didn't think of it until now! Lots of ORTs in the jar again:

It was International Hermit and Stitch Weekend this past weekend. A crazy busy one for me so I ended up with only a few hours left to hermit. I am calling it good ~ I was able to stitch a little bit at the very least! A peek at what I worked on:

Yup, that is my Prairie Schooler 12 Days of Christmas, 8 Maids. Nope, not even close to being done. I'm in no hurry with these as usually happens when I stitch for myself. If I'm stitching for someone else I can knock things out but if it's for me *sigh* I take my sweet time.

If you'd like to join the TUSAL to show Totally Useless pictures of your Old Ratty Threads, click here.

EDIT: Whoops, I forgot! Be sure to comment on this post and leave a link to your TUSAL post to get extra credit entries in my end of the year Totally Useless giveaways. Thanks for reminding me, Mary Ann!

If you'd like to shut yourself up with your stitching one weekend a month you can join the IHSW, click here.

Oh yeah...my laptop is fine now. Apparently, it did not like the fact the battery failed and so kept trying to contact the battery in hopeless devotion. Lesson learned? Know when it is over and move on! I took off the battery and we are back to normal...except I am now chained the desk until I get a new battery.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Double Whammy

I want to welcome everyone to the first official Totally Useless post of 2012! Welcome too all the new members of the Stitch-A-Long. Big thanks to those posting their ORT report and linking back to my blog!

Note: TUSALers leaving a comment with the link to their ORT report on this post will receive "extra credit" in the end of the year giveaway!

Here is my ORT report for January's New Moon. What an awesomely full ORT jar. I stitched my fingers to the bone from the looks of these ORTs! I will dump my jar into my big jar before I stitch any today. Don't worry if you are adding next month's on top of this month's ORTs or if you are dumping the contents of the jar in the trash...you do what YOU want to. Me, I'm psychotic about saving ORTs ~ I'd probably carry one back into the house if I found it in the car!

If you'd like to join in on this Totally Useless endeavor click here to sign up!

Since this was my first International Hermit and Stitch Weekend I took full advantage and started stitching the second I got home from work on Friday afternoon. Between loads of laundry and a little house-cleaning here and there I got so much done. Look ~ a bird!



The Finery of Nature is really growing fast! I was tickled to see a bit of blended thread in the design. Nothing like a Teresa Wentzler let's-blend-every-thread insanity ~ just enough to give a bit of bling. The bird section is close to being finished...backstitching saved until the end. I stitch in hand and I'd rather wait so the threads don't go fuzzy.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox

Joining In The Fun

I'm not usually a "joiner." You know...the girl that has two dozen club/church/friendship groups to go to every week? I am shy and quiet and usually tend to go my own way. But 2012 looks like there are loads of awesome things to do online!

First up comes the TUSAL. This one is easy since I've been hosting for the past year! TUSAL posts on the NEW moon each month.

Then there is Measi's WIPocalypse. This one should be fun since there is an overflowing bin of things that want stitching and an overloaded WIP bin of stuff that needs working on. WIPocalypse posts on the FULL moon each month.

Next we have Joysze's International Hermit and Stitch Weekend. There is nothing I like better than a do-not-disturb-stitching-session! IHSW "meets" the 3rd weekend of each month, posting on the Monday following.

There is also Heather's Theme-a-licious to follow! Every month is a fun theme to stitch too. It will be fun trying to come up with interesting posts each month. Theme-a-licious posts on the 15th and again on the last day each month.

Finally, we have Becky's BAP Challenge. This is a project to stitch between January 1st and December 31st of 2012. The project must be at least 10 x 12 and not a current WIP. There is a prize to be given away (a $100 GC) drawn from those that finish their project. This challenge is a post-any-time but does need to be updated when there is progress.

Holy crows! I'm gonna be so busy! I wonder if there is anything left out there for me to join?

So this brings me to that picture I'm teasing you with up there! That is Dimensions The Finery of Nature, a kit I have had in my stash for years. I will be starting this for the BAP Challenge which also takes up the Theme-a-licious of Jardin January. Starting this one will also count towards my WIPocalypse goal of reducing my unworked-but-wanting-to-stitch stash. I should be able to make good progress during the International Hermit and Stitch weekends, filling up that ORT jar for the TUSAL.

I hope I can remember all this stuff.

I'm in the process of kitting up this kit. Yeah, I said that right. It came as a kit but I just don't like it! First off, I didn't like the aida ~ toss ~ replaced with 28 count black Jobelan. Then I couldn't bring myself to use the yucky threads it came with. Today I matched them all up with DMC and I will buy those after work tomorrow. I'd be really mad if I ran out of a color after I had a major frog. DMC is just safer, even if it is only in my head. I am excited about my new start!

I do have quite a few other things in my stash that need stitching too. Updates will follow. If I don't get lost.

Thank you for visiting my blog today!

xox