WIPOCALYPSE 2012

 Okay.  So any of you out there that have been to my blog much before knew that this piece would be on the top of my list of hopeful finishes for 2012.  This is Peaceable Kingdom done on 14ct white aida and is a Golden Bee kit.  I am stitching this for my grandson, and I have been working on it on and off for 10 years.  I am determined to have this piece done in the first quarter on 2012.  I believe that I am at least 75% done, so this should be doable.

 As you can see, I am really almost not started on this piece, but I did get it kitted up to start earlier this fall, just didn't get around to working on it.  It is the 6 Fat Men designed by Lizzie Kate.  I am going to be doing it in one piece on 16ct aida with the floss called for.  Can't remember the name of the color of fabric.  All these pictures look much yellower than the pieces are in real life?  This fabric is a very light wedgewood blue looking piece.

I think you will easily see as we go through the year that I am a major

 Lizzie*Kate fan and would love to do almost all of her designs.  This is the Christmas Spirit Series that I am stitching as one bellpull.  I got a good start on it last year, and then put it away for some reason and never got it back out.  Who knows why?   This fabric is a 14ct Antique White

 Besides being a fan of Lizzie*Kate, I am becoming a big fan of JBW.  I have stitched several of her ornaments, and I would like to do one of these a month during 2012.

This is a Design Works kit called Welcome Friends which I started probably 10 years ago.  I like what it says, and would love to greet people into my home with this pie

This last piece is a BAP that I would be amazed if I ever finished.  Don't get me wrong, I would love to finish it, I just am not sure that it is possible.  It is the Precious Moments Noah's Ark which has I think a gazillion (maybe 15) pages of charts, and I have never done anything this big.  It is on a very pale blue 14ct Aida, and will be huge when it is finished.  It came as a kit, and I would love to do this for my most favorite niece.

Well, this concludes my starting WIPocalypse list.  I hope to be able to check some of these off during 2012, and I know that I will be adding some onto this list as we go along.  Good luck to all of the other participants in this SAL, and thanks Measi for setting it up!   I have tried to set up a page just for the WIPocalypse, and have copied this post onto it, but I am not sure that I will continue with that page.  Seems like a duplication of effort to me.  It probably is just I don't know what I am doing.  Go figure - right?

See you next full moon!

Happy Valentines with Cookies but no Heart...

I hope you all are having a wonderful Valentine's Day. I made DH his favorite meal, and he brought me a lovely bouquet of flowers. After 45 years together, I think that is pretty good - LOL! Actually, I also got the two of us a Valentine's present in the form of a Wii Fit Plus to go with our Wii. I have been using one at DD Lisa's house, and I really think it would be good for both of us to use it regularly. I will let you know how that goes..

I ended up not stitching the JBW Heart this weekend, I really didn't have much stitching time available, so I just finished Cookies, the third of the Lizzie*Kate Christmas Spirit charts. This is another of my February goals finished, and that is a good thing. I think I will still try to stitch the heart this week, but I know I won't have any time tomorrow night as Bill and I have GREAT tickets to the Univ. of KY basketball game - whoooo hoooo!

I did want to let you know that Lynn of Happiness is Cross Stitching blog is having a Valentine's giveaway of some of her handmade pieces. She does so many creative things, they are quite wonderful!! Sorry, I don't know h0w to make a link, but I hope you can find it!

Again, I have been thrilled by you all visiting and taking time to comment on my blog. Thank you so much!! Until next time, have a happy, healthy, stitchy time!

As promised, a stitchy update

Well, I promised you that I would list my WIP's which mostly should be called UFO's. Some could be called antiques by the less generous, but I prefer to call them the Undone. Before I show you the pictures of the Undone, I wanted to show you something more positive. This is a picture of the first chart in the Lizzie*Kate Christmas Spirit series. I did already change some colors. The chart called for the outer border to be white, and the inner border to be Emerald (WDW), but I changed it to outer border - Garnet(WDW) and the inner border Holly(WDW). So, this is the first of my January goals accomplished - Whoooo Hoooooo.



Next, and I apologize for the wrinkles, is Raise the Roof's Santa Clothes. which I started just after I finished Raise the Roof's Witchy Washy. It is signed 2006, so I will have to go with that year as a starting date for Santa Clothes. It is still my goal to have this one finished this month. Since it is only the 9th, I can still have hope.

This is the next Undone that I really want to get done this year. That sounds like I am giving it a lot of time, but it is a cover all and is huge in my way of thinking. I believe that I am a little more than halfway finished with the piece. This is a Dimensions Kit called Peaceable Kingdom. I started this for my Grandson when he was just a couple of months old. That was in the middle of 1999. I am sure he would still love it, as he really appreciates my annual ornament, but I don't know how much longer that will last. Better get it done soon. (Please forgive these wrinkles, just pulled it out of Q snaps, and didn't try to press it first.)

I have three more Undones, but this next one is the only one that I think I could possibly hope to finish this year. This is a Design Works kit that I fell in love with the sentiment of and wanted it to hang in the entrance way to my new home. That was in 2001, and now we are looking to downsize in the next couple of years. Would like this to hang in this house for a little while anyhow. It doesn't worry me too much though, because the sentiment will travel with us. The title of the kit is Welcome Friends. I also really like the colors in this kit, and they are ones that will go with our things wherever we live.

There are only two more CROSS STITCH Undone's in my collection, and we won't discuss the Needlepoint Undone's since my goals were Cross stitch goals. At least that is the way I am rationalizing it. This next one I can consider a slim possibility of ever finishing, but I am not sure at all when... This is also my oldest Undone, and I am just guessing at a starting date of somewhere in the early 1990's - let's just say for the record 1992. It is a Janlyn Kit called Yuletide Bell Pull. I really like the way the designs pop out from the black fabric, but I really don't like stitching on black fabric. I have learned some techniques to make that easier, and I hope that will make the difference. Time will tell.


Lastly, this Undone is probably more accurately termed a Pipe dream. It is a huge piece that I would dearly love to do for my favorite niece. This young lady and her wonderful husband have been unable to have children of their own, so they have adopted five children and have fostered many more. Their average child count on any given month ranges from 6 to 10, and they are the best parents to them all. Wonderful people. So anyhow, this is Precious Moments Noah's Ark. and it will be something like 36 inches wide and 24 inches tall upon completion. Now you see why I have so little hope for it. But it will remain a goal until I can no longer stitch or I finish it, whichever comes first.

I also started doing the TUSAL http://itsdaffycat.blogspot.com/ with Daffycat . Here is the first picture, taken on Saturday, January 8th, 2011.

If anyone has stuck with me through this huge post - boy do you have a lot of patience!! And, I really appreciate your efforts. Just to sumarize, I DO want to finish both Santa Clothes and Peaceable Kingdom this year while stitching the L*K Christmas Spirit series and hopefully at least one ornament a month. I will probably also start Raise the Roof's Sam's Socks, Shorts and Such as well as some random other smaller projects. So, I think that I shouldn't worry about running out of stitching projects this year at least - LOL.


I really have appreciated you all for stopping by and reading my posts, and I particularly appreciate the wonderful comments you have left. It really is a terrific "warm fuzzy" to see people have taken time to write.


So, until next week, may you be happy, healthy and spend much time stitching.

A couple of glances back, and a look forward

I never have had the opportunity to show you the fantastic Secret Santa goodies I got from Amy. I know I told you about it, but at the time a couldn't find my camera. So, here it is (minus a couple of pieces of candy)- isn't it wonderful? To refresh your memory and because my photography is so poor, let me tell you all that was in it. There are two SanMan charts with embellishments and one with a tuck ornament, Everything I need including fabric, floss, chart and beads to do stitch both JBW Christmas Tree ornaments on the chart. A darling little snowman stocking which held it all along with two pieces of finishing fabric that is gorgeous. There is a Antique looking Santa pin and some nummy candy canes. But the best of all is a Snowman embroidered ornament that Amy made!! I am loving it! Thanks again, Amy, for a wonderful Santa package.

One more thing from last year that was pretty wonderful was that my DS#2 graduated from the University of Kentucky on December 17th. He had stopped going to school some years ago, and started back up without telling us what he was doing. It was quite a surprise when he told us that he was going to graduate. I wanted to let him know how proud I was of him and his efforts, so I stitched this UK Wildcat Logo as a remembrance. Sorry for the reflection, I am no good at taking pictures. (The piece is not really framed yet. I just stuck it in the frame to show him what it will look like when it is framed.) I am having trouble finding mounting boards to frame it with.

One quick little look forward. This is the start of the Christmas Spirit series that Lizzie*Kate put out in 2008. I am going to do this as a banner just like I did the Boo series by Lizzie* Kate. So, I have partially met my first goal for January and I am thinking about changing which ornament I stitch this month. I am thinking about doing one or two snowmen ornaments to put on my ornament tree for the winter season. I will let you know what I finally decide when I do.

Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving such lovely comments. I really do appreciate them. So, until next time, have a happy and healthy and stitchy week!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

I want to wish everyone here in Blogland a very Happy and healthy New Year! As I don't believe in resolutions, I am going to make a list of goals I wish to attain this coming year. Mostly in the area of taking back control of at least parts of my life from the totally out of control 2010.

As I write this, it has been weeks since I have taken time to blog - either write my blog or read youralls blogs. That is something that I have missed, and have a goal to change. I would like to spend sometime at least four times a week reading and commenting on your blogs, and hopefully write on mine at least once a week. I would also like to spend some time learning how to do a better job with my blog - tweaking it to look the way a I want it to will be quite a learning experience. Wish me luck.

Stitching this past year has been sporadic at best. Some of the time not stitching was due to my cancer, but now that I am cancer free, that no longer applies. I know that I want to start some fairly large projects and finish some of my WIP's as well as stitch at least one ornament a month. I haven't written down my specific list, but intend to do that today. I haven't stitched in a couple of weeks due to the holiday, but want to start back at a casual pace this week. I am going to try and post stitching goals for each month, and update my progress weekly. I am hoping this will be more motivation. So, towards that goal, my January stitching goals are:

1) Start Christmas Spirit banner. Stitch the L*K chart Holly as a start.

2) Finish Santa Clothes by Raise the Roof.

3) Stitch one of my JBW Christmas Tree ornaments.

I have some pictures taken of my last finishes of 2010, and I will try to post them sometime later this weekend.

For now, thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you all have a happy and healthy new year.