January Progress and February Goals

It is the beginning of February and as promised I am back to show my January stitching progress on my Heaven and Earth Design's "Bookworm Fairy".

I made really good progress although I didn't stick to my January challenge guidelines I originally set for myself. My goal was to stitch 100 stitches a day and around 500 on the weekends. Luckily this was my personal challenge, so I bent the rules around just a little bit to give myself more flexibility as the month went on. The 500 stitches on the weekends ended up changing to 300 instead. I quickly realized that with working extra hours this month including Saturdays, my stitching time (and motivation for that matter), was much less than I had hoped.. There were also days that I ended up not stitching at all or my time was focused on a different project. 

Picture before starting challenge as of 1/1/14:

Progress as of 2/01/14 

 I finished a grand total of 2,240 stitches. The number is odd because I stitched two partial squares of 70 stitches each.

Quite a difference right?! The parking of the threads helps tremendously with a project of this size and detail.

  Since it is a new month, I have decided to challenge myself with some new goals. I like the thought of rotating projects on a monthly basis. This way they all get some love and attention. 

Bookworm Fairy will be my Tuesday and Friday only project this month. I'm almost done with the page I'm working on. My goal will be to finish the page this month. 

My second focus project will be my Bluebell Fairy by Nora Corbett.

Here is how she looks as of today:

My goal is to finish stitching the wings. They are stitching completely in metallic thread. I know that's not everyone's favorite, but I actually don't mind metallic. Its so pretty to me. :-)

I have also started the new Frosty Friends series by Country Cottage Needleworks. I'm working on Racoon Cabin. I plan on finishing that one up this month.

And if all goes really well, I hope to have finished February Cottage by Country Cottage Needleworks as well. 

So those are my stitching goals for February. Wish me luck! I haven't made a good start yet as I have been hit with a horrible bug that just completely knocked me off my feet this past week. I now have this horrible cough that just won't go away it seems, but I am feeling much better.

Thanks so much for visiting with me today. Valentines Day is next week. I wish you all much love and happiness. Take Care All.

**Hugs from Sunny Miami**

Jen

A Big Hello and a Small Happy Dance

The Personal Bits:

Wowser! I can't believe its been 2 months since my last post. The days just fly by so quickly it seems. One minute I was getting ready for Halloween, then it was Thanksgiving, now Christmas is here. It honestly hasn't hit me that Christmas is here. I haven't even dragged out my Christmas decor yet if you can believe it. It must be because we are having a warm winter down here in Miami so far. Kinda of hard to get in the holiday spirit when its not even cold outside. I'll admit I am a little jealous of you folks who have been getting snow already. You can send some snowflakes my way. I'll be glad to take some off your hands...er yards I mean. :D

Let's see, what's new? Well, this Thursday was when my little family and I were supposed to go to Disney. Plans changed unfortunately, but you know what, the saying is true...Everything happens for a reason. I had to cut the trip short because my honey's new job started later than anticipated and he didn't want to ask for the time off. On top of that, a co-worker of mine is out on family leave with an undetermined time of returning, so my work this month was increased. Well, I just had to get my Disney fix so I decided to change the trip plans a little bit. You see, my son thinks the trip was canceled all together, but little does he know that mommy is taking him to Magic Kingdom on Friday for the Mickey Christmas Party in the evening. How cool is that?! I would be in heaven if I were eight years old and got a surprise trip to Disney! It will just be me and him for two days in the land of the Mouse. It will be a mother/son trip that we both will never forget. I can't wait and on top of that we will be spending that one night in a resort. Something we normally don't do cause their resorts are expensive, but I snagged a room at a nice discount. Yay for being a Florida Resident!

The Crafty Bits

I have two projects to show you. The first is a Halloween bag I made for my son to use for his trick or treating. I wanted to do this for him last year but never got around to it.

This project was fun to do. I've never done felt crafts with beading before, so this was a new kind of crafty project for me. I really enjoyed it. It was a somewhat mindless project that I did in front of the TV in two evenings. The kit was a great price and cheaper than some Halloween bags I saw in the store. You can find the kit at Herschners.com here. They also have one of a Black cat too. The bag is a nice size and it holds plenty of candy.

Now for the Happy Dance part! I finally finished Page 1 of my Heaven and Earth Design cross-stitch project. I have about 20 more pages to go, but just finishing the first page feels like a huge accomplishment. These patterns are not for the impatient stitcher at all.

Progress as of September 16

Progress as of December 10

 

Now I am eager to continue onto the next page of this. The first page felt like forever because of the all the confetti stitches, but I have a new plan of action for stitching the rest of her.

That is all for today. Thank you friends for stopping by. I'll be back with some Paper Crafting projects in my next post. Please keep warm where ever you are and enjoy the holiday season.

**Hugs from Sunny Miami**

    Jen

Life's Curveballs and Some Crafting

The Personal Bits:

You know those times when life starts throwing you curveballs and just doesn't seem to let up quick enough for you to breathe? That's how its been for me the last few weeks. Seriously, I know life is full of challenges, but it would help the mind better if they didn't happen like back to back to back. I realize that worrying about things doesn't help matters. Actually, I don't call what I do "worrying", I like to refer to my constant thinking as planning for the what-if's. It actually puts my mind at ease when I can plan out what to do if something else pops up within my problems. Would you believe on top of everything I have going on at the moment that I got my first ticket in 10 years on Sunday?! Talk about stepping your foot in crap and not being able to get the crap off your shoe! I think it should be a sin for highway cops to give tickets out on Sunday morning. I would also like to add that he issued the fastest ticket ever. He went to his car and came back in like 3 minutes! Even my boyfriend, (who knows all about driving tickets too well) was shocked out how fast he wrote that thing.

On the upside of things, my worry issues are slowly working themselves out.

~ My honey should be starting a new job within 2 weeks at a brand new beer bar right near home. Much more convenient than his last job at a hotel on Miami Beach that was like 1 hour away from home. Yay!

~My financial woes are working themselves out slowly. Yay! Yay!

~My job finally hired a new person and I think she will be fabulous once she get's comfortable with the system.- Hallelujah!

~My son's behavior issues at school are slowly getting better. You see, my son is an energetic, fun loving kid with very little patience for learning anything new. He also likes being the center of attention so behaving in groups is challenging.

He started a new school this year which academically speaking was a great move. Now he just needs to learn how to act like a 3rd grader. I know it will "sink in" eventually. Every year I see improvement, its just not at the rate his school would like. Plus this school works like a private school, so their standards are much higher than he is used to.

~And finally, the countdown is on to this year's Disney Christmas vacation. Woohoo!! My little magical world outside of the chaotic world called real life. Thank God the financial woes are working out cause if not, this trip would not happen and I would be one depressed girly. I'm doing some extra planning for this trip to make it different from all the others.

 

The Crafty Bits

I've done a little bit of crafting in the middle of my mental anguish. I stitched some more on my Heaven and Earth Design: Mini Bookworm Fairy by Hannah Lynn.

 

Progress at August 14

Progress at August 23

 

Progress at September 16

Almost done with page 1. Only 20 something more to go!...and that's not an exaggeration either.

I also did a little bit of hand quilting on my quilt. At the rate I'm going, this quilt may be done by the year 2020, but I'm going to work hard to make sure it is done wayyyyy before then.

I am breaking a rule with the hand quilting I must admit. I'm NOT using a quilt hoop. I just grab the quilt and quilt with it in my lap. It makes hand quilting so much easier for me. I can't do the rocking stitch when the top is taut like needlework. I feel like I'm going to break the needle and I can't keep the stitches the same length. Plus, I've realized that I really dislike thimbles. They are a pain to use.

Thank you for visiting and reading my little rant on life. I actually feel better now that I have blogged out the things on my mind. Maybe now I'll pick up my poor neglected dish cloth I started knitting but haven't finished just yet.

Until next time, Have a great evening. :)

**Hugs**

Jen

Life is Beautiful...

Greetings from a most wet Miami!

The rain has just been non-stop this week. It seems I should just trade my car in for a canoe. That way I can get around more efficiently! Nah...that would be foolish. Besides, a canoe doesn't come with a roof, and wipers and the engine would be me...yea scratch that thought. LOL

I have some stitching to share with you all today. I participated in an exchange on The Friendly Stitchers Yahoo Group. We did a Freebie kit exchange. We were to pick out a freebie chart, pick out the materials and send it to our partner to stitch. The partners were secret so we had no idea who sent us our kits. Today was the group reveal. My partner was Karen and I loved what she chose for me.

 

Such a lovely saying don't you think? I don't know who made the chart unfortunately so I don't have a link to share. The fabric is a Sparklies Hand-dye Fabric called "Slightly Scarlet". The threads were all silk embroidery threads from France by Soie d'alger, except the really red color. That one is called "Victorian Rose" by the The Thread Gatherer. I finished this as an ornament. The flower on top is not attached. It was just a prop from my flower vase.

Here is the back:

 

I was so excited to have found this fabric in my stash to use. I probably have had it forever and just never found a project to use it on until now.

I also wanted to share my latest progress on my HAED Bookworm Fairy. I'm so loving this project. It is a slow go, but I enjoy watching the colors come together.

Progress before:

 

Progress today:

 

Well I must be going now. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting today.

Hugs from a Rainy Miami,

Jen

IHSW Update - A New Start

Happy Monday Friends:

I hope your day has started better than mine. I walked into work at 8:30am this morning to find out our computer network was not up and working. Needless to say, I spent 3 1/2 hours this morning doing NOTHING. So can you guess what I wish I COULD be doing now? :)

I had a wonderful weekend. It was spent with family mostly. I received a most wonderful surprise from my parents. It was my birthday on the 9th and my parents decided to surprise me on Saturday with a belated birthday present...a 47" LCD TV! They said it was a dual present, for both my birthday and a house warming present for my boyfriend and I. He was thrilled! His face lit up like a Christmas tree and his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the box come into the house from the garage. That was such a nice surprise. We love it! Got to watch our first basketball game on it yesterday. GO HEAT!

I was able to do some stitching for International Hermit and Stitch Weekend. I started a new one...(like I need another WIP)...BUT I couldn't help it. And to surprise you even more...it is a HAED (Heaven and Earth Design). I never thought I would stitch one of these charts, but many of the charts are just so pretty I couldn't help myself but give one a try.

Check it out..I'm stitching this little beauty: "Bookworm Fairy" by Hannah Lynn

Besides her being blonde, blue eyes and a bookworm (like me), I just fell in love with the colors. Aren't they gorgeous?!  All of my favorites in one. I did choose the Mini chart, however it is a decent size...around 9 x 12" I believe when done. A good first choice I think.

Here is my start...all 300 stitches:

 

I'm stitching her on 18ct white aida. The thought of stitching over 1 on 25 ct Lugana did not appeal to me in the least. I am actually really enjoying this. I like how the chart is gridded in 10 x 10 squares so you can focus on a square at a time. It makes the project feel much less daunting. The only thing I find that makes me a little nuts is how a block could be full of one color and then you have one stitch that's another color. Mind you, not even a color that is really different from the first either. Get what I'm saying? Anyways, that's my only gripe.

That is all for today. Thank you for stopping by! Oh BTW...for all of you Lizzie Kate lovers, you have to check this out. She is coming out with a new mystery Halloween Sampler piece. I can't wait! 

http://www.wasatchneedlecraft.com/Lizzie-Kate-Summer-Mystery-Sampler_p_5297.html

Enjoy your weeks. :)

Jen