May TUSAL and a Little Progress

Well, as usual I'm a few days late for Daffycat's Totally Useless SAL since the official check in day was Monday.  But at least I'm only a little late this month, instead of forgetting it together. 

Of course, I forgot Monday, so I had to snap a hurried pic that night, so it is kind of blurry, sorry:

I finally got a new ort jar, and I also found my "traveling" ort bag, so I was finally able to add all those bits and pieces I lost back in February to my jar.  Sad that that kind of makes me really happy.  Anyway, that's why my current green is more towards the middle, and a bunch of purple is on top.  That green is from my actual recent stitching, mostly from Baby Tinkerbell. 

And speaking of Tinkerbell, here's how she's looking today. 

Not much progress since this weekend.  Just finished up her bloomers and have started on her wings.  It's discouraging how much my progress slows during the work week.  I keep listing in my head all the things I have left to do (2 wings, 2 legs, 2 slippers, face, hair, ladybug...) and keep thinking that's not that much, right?  Then when I actually stitch it, it takes forever. 

I would so love to just stay at home and get paid for stitching.  Guess that's what retirement is for.  Of course, by then I probably will be half blind and arthritic and be unable to stitch!  Oh, and it's like 40 years away for me.  There's that too. 

Anyway, hope everyone is having great stitching progress!

Baby Tinkerbell Progress 5.18.15

I stitched like a madwoman all weekend, so I got quite a bit of progress done on Baby Tinkerbell:

With the exception of her slippers, I'm completely done with the green, and you can see the place where she'll be eventually holding a ladybug at the end of that arm.  That random green blob above her collar is a pacifier.  This design is definitely one that will change much when the backstitching (of which there is A LOT) is completed.

Sadly, I didn't have time to finish the white on her bloomers last night, and was an idiot and forgot my scissors this morning, so couldn't work on them at lunch today either.  Grr.  

I'm very pleased with the progress, but at this rate, I need like 4 more straight stitching days in order to make my deadline for this piece (it needs to go out day after Memorial Day).  I feel like there is many late nights in my future...

On another note, I hate how stiff this 16 count aida is!  I've never had fabric that felt this way before, it's driving me bonkers. 

Also on another completely random note, I broke 4 needles this weekend.  4!!!!  That's a record for me.  I don't think I've ever broken more than 1 in like a month before, and this was over just 2 days.

Also, also, etc.... I hate quarter stitches.  Just saying. 

Plans for the Weekend

Well, I'm planning on doing some stitching this weekend.  How about you?  I have about 5 projects that need to be completed and sent off by the end of the month.  Hmmm, I think I'm totally insane for signing up for so many things.  In fact, the other day my Mom saw me stitching, asked what I was working on, and when I told her, her response was "don't you ever stitch anything for yourself".  Guess I haven't much lately.  I will have to remedy that.  But in the meantime, I have deadlines to follow!

So I've got a bit more progress to show you on said projects.  I finished up the stitching on the N from Lucie Heaton's Buzzy Bees alphatbet for my intital exchange:

I actually kind of like it with the backstitching.  Actually, I've finished all the backstiching too, but I will be saving that finish photograph for the smalls check in at the end of the month.  I'm devious, I know.  But for once I'd like to show frequent readers some new photographs for my SAL check-ins. 

Anyway, I like it both this way and finished with all the detail, although I think if I stitch it again I might just backstitch the flower and bee and leave the letter un-outlined.  I plan to finish this up into a bookmark and get it sent off this weekend. 

Which brings me to the start of my newest project.  This is the Baby Tinkerbell pattern featured on my Turtle Trot list (Project 9). 

Just a bit of green so far.  This is strip of darker green on her dress caused by the shadow of her arm. This design has a TON of fractionals like the Friends for Life pattern did, and this particular aida is super stiff, so this one will present me with a bit of a challenge. Hopefully I will get much further as the weekend progresses. 

Free Pattern Friday

Well, I've fallen off the Free Cross Stitch Pattern Friday bandwagon the past couple weeks.  Between being sick and the previously discussed shakeups at work, I just haven't gotten around to it.  So I wanted to make sure I actually posted one today.

Things are starting to get a bit hot here in Mississippi, but everything is still in bloom, and it really reminds me that May is still time for spring and flowers.  Of course I'm learning that here that also means tornadoes and thunderstorms, but I prefer not to focus on those.  Instead, this design of spring tulips from DMC is a happy reminder of why I like spring so much.

I absolutely love the colors in this one.  I've always wanted to stitch it up as a bookmark, but it's just a tidge too wide for that.  Oh well, I'm sure I'll find a place for it somewhere.  You can download this free cross stitch pattern via PDF from DMC's website. 

Happy stitching!





If you ever come across one of my posts that contains a chart that breaks copyright law, please email me and let me know right away. In picking and posting my free cross stitch pattern posts, I make every effort to ensure the designs I share are legitimately free charts.

April Turtle Trot, May WIPocalypse and more!

Well, with the continued craziness that I posted about at the end of last week, still not having internet access at home (living in the country is just great sometimes), STILL being sick with this stupid cold, Mother's Day on Sunday, etc. I missed the check in dates for both WIPocalypse and Turtle Trot.  But better late than never!

First of all, thank you to everyone who left well wishes on my post last week.  They were much needed.  My boss's husband had a major heart attack last Wednesday, leading to my rough week at work in trying to fill in for her.  Sadly, her husband passed away on Saturday, so Sat/Sun/Mon were busy trying to get things ready and settled for the funeral.  So that's over with, but things are still a little crazy as we try to adjust to the "new normal".

Secondly, I hope everyone who celebrated Mother's Day had a great weekend, and you enjoyed the time you spent honoring your mothers/sisters/aunts/daughters/etc.  I cooked up a storm last weekend, which sadly cut into my stitching time, but oh well.

Now, onto the updates I suppose.  First off, the May WIPocalypse check in as hosted by Measi.

May's question is: I would like to know if you look for LNS’s when you travel. What is the favorite shop you’ve ever found?

Sadly, I seem to never live in an area that has a LNS around.  I did find one in Placerville when up at Apple Hill when I lived in California, and one in Boise when visiting my grandparents (which sadly had gone out of business when I went back to look for it last year).  Usually when traveling I don't have time to explore for an LNS, I have a time schedule I need to keep to, but I want to possibly do it more often in the future.  Sadly, I have not found one near me in Mississippi yet either.  Anyone know of a LNS around the Jackson area?

As far as progress, I'm going to combine this with my Turtle Trot progress check-in, since some of the things I worked on this month were TT pieces.

Project 1: Halloween Quaker

Previous Progress:

How it looks now:

Projects 2-6: No new progress

Project 7: Flower of the Month SAL

I made more progress on January, but I can't find the progress pic I took anywhere!  I will have to update this post when I find where my camera stashed it.

Projects 8-10: No new progress

Project 11: Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin

Here's my latest finish on the FP Round Robin.  This is for Round 4, where I once again had Woodland Sampler to work on.  I finished the October block:

Made a huge counting mistake on this one (several times) so I had to frog a bunch and modify the pattern a bit (or risk having to frog the entire pattern).  I think it turned out okay anyway. 

Project 12: No new progress

So sadly, not a whole lot of progress going on there with those pieces.  Hopefully after June things will settle down a bit stitching-wise though. 

In April I also had two other non-Turtle Trot progress finishes, Easter Egg Topiary and Friends for Life, both of which were charity stitching donations.

I also managed to get a bit of stitching on this new project last night:

I don't anticipate this taking very long.  As you can probably tell, this is an initial, specifically a N.  It's for an Initial Exchange swap I signed up for on Facebook.  This is from the Buzzy Bees Alphabet by Lucie Heaton, I think from an old CrossStitcher magazine I have lying around.  Sorry for the wonky lighting, the fabric is actually regular white aida.  It's so hard to get good pictures of my stitching at night. 

Well, that's it for progress shots today.  Hopefully your stitching is all going better than mine!

Latest Round Robin Progress

I guess I've been a little quiet lately compared to how busy I was in April.  Sadly, I've had a few personal issues going on the last few weeks, a rough week at work, and yet another cold, all of which have thrown a bit of a wrench in things lately.  In fact, I think this pretty much sums up the last two weeks:

This is from the wonderful Sandra Boynton's Facebook page by the way.

So yes, May Day, May Day, I'm going down...

I'm way behind on getting my stitching done for this month's Frosted Pumpkin Round Robin.  But I have made a little progress so far:

Just the owl to finish, 3 clouds, 3 leaves, 2 acorns, and the words to do left.  That's not much.  Right?  I really need to get started on my next Love Quilts square due at the end of this month too.  And I got a few other projects up in the air too.  I'm feeling a little stretch.  Hopefully I can find some time to myself this weekend, although I don't know how much that will happen, being Mother's Day for those of us in the USA and all. 

Since I don't have much in the way of stitching to show you, how about a photo of serendipitous timing.  We live out in the country, and there happens to be a barn cat that lives on the property we rent.  His name is Bella (yes, Bella is a fella, he was named by a 5 year old that didn't know better) and he is a sweetie who loves to talk.  He always comes over and greets me with lots of meows and loud purrs when I come home every day.  I love him almost as much as my Brownie baby.

Anyway, Bella found an earthworm on the ground on Saturday, and happened to look up and tell me all about it.  Well, I was trying to get a picture of him sniffing it, but snapped it a little too late, which meant he was already looking at me and in mid-meow.  Well, since he was in the middle of talking to me, it made him look like he has this disgusted look on his face.  Like "ooh, gross, it's a worm..."

I just thought it was a cute picture and had to share. 

April Check In for 2015 Flower of the Month SAL

This is several days late, sorry about that.  I had a rough week last week with some personal issues going on and then this week I've been stuck with a cold/allergies that are generally making me tired and grumpy.  So I regret to say that's made me a very bad hostess for this month.  In fact, I don't even have pictures of my progress, since I put my project somewhere while cleaning and organizing on the weekend and can't find it yet.  *sigh*

I'm so looking forward to seeing all the lovely progress everyone made during April, since I am going to have to live vicariously through you all this month. 

If you are not currently a member of the SAL and want to join us, remember it's never too late to join!  The rules and official sign ups can be found on this page.  

Important Notes For Current SAL Participants: 
To earn an extra prize entry for this month, you must submit a check in (even if it's showing only progress and not a finish).  Your check in can be about the April pattern, or any other month you are working on/have finished. 

If you have done a blog post showing your progress, please use the linking widget below to add a direct link to your check in post.  

If you're still participating but using a different way to check in, please send me an email to brownieschair (AT) hotmail (DOT) com with your progress details/pictures and I will post them here for you.

If anyone has any questions, please let me know.  I will leave the link widget open through next week (May 12th) since I'm a little late this month, so please check in by that date.