East to West

Hello dear friends. First of all, I want to let you know I really appreciate the vote of confidence on my stitching deadline:) Truly nice to read about your kind comments:)

So, after a heart-pounding stitching night, look what's flying from east to west today:

TA-DA!

 No frills framing. I used white adhesive board. The margin was a tad smaller on the right, but I didn't have the luxury of time to undo it. DH said it's not that noticeable.
Here are some close-up shots to show the details (backstitch and gazillion french knots that made me crazy):

 I love the contrast lines on the this tree,

 as well as the multi-colored flowers... no two french knots are alike, but they still look good to me!

 DH mailed this along with a cute white store-bought (sorry, didn't have enough time to make my own) card. One thing's for sure, my friend genuinely appreciates anything she isn't expecting.
Now that my heart and mind have calmed down, I'm already putting grid lines on the latest addition to the rotation, something about February:)

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

Tuesday to Thursday progress

Hello dear friends.
Another update on the friend's gift:

 

On Tuesday I only finished the black threads (windows and gate).

Wednesday I had more success as the arm felt better, I was able to fill the spaces on both hearts.

Tonight's even greater, I 'm done on all xstitches- those spaces on the roof, beehive and cats. I even put in some gray backstitch (smoke):

TA-DA

I'll be pulling an all nighter tomorrow if I don't finish this tonight since I'm not oncall Saturday. Yes, I'm panicking, haha. I want to mail it ASAP. I already have the frame for it, no matting involved.

On another note, some of the Prairie Schooler patterns have arrived. One is very fitting for next month (can you guess what it is?) so maybe after this piece, I will add that to my rotation. 

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

The gift

Hello again blogger friends.
Sunday I continued my priority stitching:

I finished all the leaves and words. 

I stitched today too, unfortunately my arm started to hurt, the one that holds the fabric not the needle. I may take it slow for tomorrow, we'll see. 
My bestfriend already moved to Las Vegas last week, so far the couple are loving the place. I don't have the address yet, I always send something on her birthday so it won't come as a surprise if I ask. I don't know if I mentioned before that none of my close friends are stitchers. My stitching was a secret until our group came to my parents' house (we were attending another highschool-friend's wedding that time and everyone decided we all go together), that's how they found out I was into cross-stitch, because my mom, bless her soul, had some of my work framed and some were my "Mother's Day" gifts for her. After all these years I never mentioned to them that I've been stitching still. Only this particular friend knows that I'm still addicted, haha. But... she doesn't know my blog, hah! so posting this is as safe as milk.
Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

BFF's gift

Hello blogger friends. Apologies for being delayed on posting comments, I think I skipped three or four days of reading but all for good cause. See, I've been busy on the BFF birthday project (which I need to mail by next week, I hope!)
So here's my progress for the week, I surprised myself with the last picture at how much I've accomplished:)

 This is how it looked Sunday night before I got hooked on Pumpkin Hollow Farms

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 By Thursday night (sooo late) I was able to put in more on the house

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Friday night was spent working on the house and the tree, yep, the browns!

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Today I tackled the dark leaves as well as some backstitch on those scattered leaves.

I think I'm more than halfway on this piece, thanks to the repetitive pattern and conducive weather (no snow in Florida, but it's cold here too), now just one more load of laundry left and I'll put in more stitches for tomorrow. 

Off to read the bloglist.

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

Pumpkin Hollow Farms

Hello dear friends.
Excited to share major progress on Pumpkin Hollow Farms: 

No new stitches on Yesteryear and concentrated on just this. I also forgot to mention in the last update that I used two shades for the pumpkins and went a shade darker for the flowers. Next time I have to face the inevitable browns on this one (together with Yesteryear, oh my!). But have to put them aside for now as I really should be focusing on BFF's present, I need to send it before the birthday which is in two weeks.

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

Counting trees

Hello dear blogging friends.
I've been a gardener this week, planting trees... on my WIPs, lol.

I did the green leaves on the trees, I just couldn't face more brown right now because of Yesteryear WIP, hah.

 The trees on Begin Row are actually darker than what the picture shows, bad lighting on my part. 
That's it for the week. Have a happy weekend everyone.

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

The other 2 WIPs this time

Hello bloggers. Quick update (don't you just love that!)
More progress to be seen than last post:

 I'm drawn to the colors of Pumpkin Hollow Farms (but the picture does not capture it),

 while this one clearly means more browns in my future, lol.
I've also heeded your advice as I'm spending time now on BFF's present:)

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

2 WIPs again

Hello dear blogging friends. First off, apologies for being remiss on blog-reading last week. I did my homework though, read and commented on some last night.
I've been quietly stitching too while patiently waiting for my Prairie Schooler pattern order, I don't know why it's taking so long (one is OOP, so I got it from a needleshop online). Unfortunately there is no tracking number on the confirmation.
Anyway, here's my progress on two WIPs (I already have four starts since New Year):

 

I now have trees on Begin Row... 

and hearts for my gift for my friend. I'm still undecided about how much time I should spend on the 4 WIPs for rotation. But I surely would like to have this piece finished before my friend's birthday which is on first week of next month.

This is all for now. I hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

2 New starts

Hello dear friends.
I started 2 charts, one from the magazine goal and one from the Christmas haul.

 Pumpkin Hollow Farms

by Little House Needleworks

14ct. Antique White aida

I started with the bright colors because I've been stitching with dark/dull colors for the past days on Begin and Yesteryear. This is a welcome break. 

Love of the Lord

fr. Cross Country Stitching, February 2013 issue

I had to start this one because I want to mail this to my friend when she heads west. She already handed in her notice and will be starting in her new job before month end. She's super busy right now with the move, I hope this will surprise and cheer her up when she gets to her new surroundings.

This is all for now.

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

2 WIPs

Hello dear friends. I hope everyone had a good new year weekend.
This is the chart I've started along with Begin Row:

Yesteryear from Little House Needleworks

16ct. Lite Oatmeal aida

And this is where I am now with Begin Row: 

Apologies for the bad lighting, I know the pics look so borrrring:( I chose to concentrate more on Summer Fragrance' backstitch before day turns into the dead of night, so not much progress on these two. I really want to have her done by end of the month. Hopefully I'll be showing brighter colors next time:)

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

First WIP

Hello dear blogger friends. Just a quick update.
Here's my first WIP for the year.

 Begin Row from Bent Creek

16ct. Ice Blue aida

 Isn't that very fitting to welcome a new year of stitching, lol.
I stitched both colors (black and brown) in DMC satin floss.
Today, I'm also starting another chart from my Christmas haul:)
Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching!

Hauls and Goals

Hello dear friends. Still reeling from karaoke hangover last night...Happy 2016! Thank you very much for all your nice comments, advice and visits to my blog last year. I hope that you continue to encourage and inspire more stitchers in 2016.

Last post I mentioned that I’ll be writing about my goals, but before that let me show you the goodies I got for Christmas.

That’s what you do when you get free rein in choosing your own Christmas presents, you dash off with your long list to pick everything before DH notices what you've been up to, haha.

My first purchases were done online:

Hitchin' a Ride by Waxing Moon Designs, Shepherd's Christmas by Chessie & Me, Pumpkin Hollow Farms by Little House Needleworks, Smitten by All Through the Night,

Begin Row by Bent Creek. I have already kitted this up last week and have put in the first stitches today to "begin" the new year! 

To keep up with my Christmas carol stitching, I chose O Tannenbaum Sampler by Stoney Creek.

"For the books" I picked up Read Between the Lines by Blue Ribbon Designs. I really slacked off last year, I don't remember purchasing a significant book (I still prefer paperback than digital), maybe this chart will inspire me to read more of books again instead of magazines (I cut two subscriptions this year). Flosstube has also taken some of the spare time used to watch Korean dramas. We'll see about that this year.

I also got some supplies: Touch of Gray and Ice Blue (online), both 16ct, yay! But I will still use some 14ct of course. I also picked up some DMC floss, more fabric and adhesive boards (for framing) from Joann Fabric Store with their discount coupons. 

From China, I bought 3 kits- Butterfly Fairy and Lily Fairy. The other one hasn't come in yet.

Halloween Fairy by Nora Corbett was originally released in a magazine years ago. Good thing it's available as paid digital download from Herrschners.
I am still waiting for 3 Prairie Schooler charts. I had to get them out from my wishlist because they will be closing this year. 

Now here are my Goals for the year:
1. Participate in another blog hop. I totally enjoyed my hop initiation last Christmas, and I'm already excited to join one again. 
2. Finish Summer Fragrance and Petal Fairy. I hope I can finish Petal Fairy during the first quarter.
3. Stitch Magazine charts:

I want to do Houses of Peace to complement Houses of Love which was done last year. 

I'm also going to do the cover photo on the magazine for my bestfriend who's moving west after 6 years in Maryland to be closer to family and relatives.

I also want to stitch this piece below (I have bought some embellishments for it too):

4. Do a Soda Stitch:

5. Try 18ct. for the first time:)

These are off the top of my head, don't want to burden myself with much planning ahead and ambitious ideas. I want to keep my options open and enjoy every single stitch:)

Now I'm off to read other stitchy blogs.

Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching.