WIPocalypse #2

Boy has the past month ever flew by. I completely forgot about the WIPocalypse challenge and working on my stitching after the first little rush I had at the first of last month. I did work a little bit on something I'm stitching for a friend, but I can't post it on here because I'm not sure if she'll read this or not. So, instead I'll post my teeny tiny progress in other areas for the month.

I got a whopping 3 hours work done on Fairy Moon. LMAO. I normally wouldn't even bother taking a picture of it, but I needed to be able to post something, so here's Moony at 78 hours.

I also managed to dig out a few smalls I did in 2007 and FINALLY got them framed. I did these for my two girls when they were tiny. They're bigger now, but they still love them. My oldest and I always read the book "Guess How Much I Love You" in which the final line is "I love you to the moon and back", and this became our key phrase for many years to tell the other that we loved them. So when I saw the "I Love You To The Moon" kit from Waxing Moon Designs, I HAD to have it! I got it off eBay and stitched it up quickly.

My youngest and I read this book as well and said the same things, but when it was time to do one for her I saw the "You're My Sunshine" kit from Waxing Moon Designs it was perfect. My youngest daughter had a thing for the song You Are My Sunshine. My Mother-in-Law sang it to her every time she saw her and Littlest DD always referred to it as her "special Nanny song". It was such a special song for her that at one point, I wasn't even allowed to sing it to her, only Nanny could. lol

So, after only 4-5 years of sitting in the finished container, I managed to get them framed for the girls. Here they are.

Hopefully next month I'll be able to post a little more visible progress, but for now Happy Stitching!

WIPocalypse!

Well, it's been several years since I've posted, or stitched for that matter but a friend of mine, Christine, posted on her blog that she was going to join WIPocalypse and after reading a bit more about it (here) I decided I wanted to join also. I'm hoping that it will give me back my stitching mojo, which has been sorely missing for a few years now.

So, I guess in lieu of doing a "progress" post for the first full moon of the year, I'm merely doing a small introduction post with a list of the WIPs I'll be working on, and maybe a few I'd like to start.

First of all, the two main ones I've had sitting around for forever and a day.

Fairy Moon - Mirabilia

This is the last picture I took of this WiP at 58.5 hours. It was taken nearly 4 years ago in April 2008! (see what I mean about getting my stitching mojo back?!)

EDIT:

Once I finished my post and dug out my stitching to get started I was pleasantly surprised. I had over 70 hours completed, but I'd just never taken a picture. I stitched for a few more hours last night and today and took this picture when I reached the 75 hour mark!

End Edit.

Summer Blooms.

This came from a magazine somewhere, I'm not sure which one. I LOVE the piece, but have the hardest time getting into it. I hate stitching it, but I know it'll be worth it when I'm finished.

Summer Blooms - 20 Hours - August 2007

What Summer Blooms will look like when it's finished! I only hope I make it there someday!

Dream Sampler by Dragon Dreams

Another one I'd like to add to my list is Dream Sampler by Dragon Dreams. I did this for my oldest daughter a few years ago and would like to do another for my younger. I've even gone so far as to buy the fabric and work the outline grid on it already. I just need to get my lazy butt in gear on this one. Here's the finished version of the last one I did.

There are others I'd love to add to the list, for example, I've already collected the patterns for Celtic Spring, Celtic Summer and Celtic Autumn by Lavender and Lace as well as the pattern for Romantic Stitcher by Passione Ricamo but I think the ones I have here with a few Christmas Ornaments from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament issues I've collected over the last few years should be sufficient for now. However, I reserve the right to change my mind at any given time. ;)

Happy Stitching

Christine

Has it been that long? Oh My...

It's been a while, and I haven't been doing much for stitching. I just haven't been in the mood for it lately. But now that the new TV season is back upon us I may get a bit more done while I sit my chubby little butt in front of the idiot box for hours on end.

I actually just realized how much I watch that damn thing. I always knew it was a lot, but just today I commented on another blog about which shows we watch and I now realize that I'm totally and completely addicted to TV! Here's our list of the shows we are watching this season.

Sunday nights we watch: Simpsons, Desperate Housewives, Dexter and Family Guy

Monday nights we watch: How I Met Your Mother, Journeyman, Stargate: Atlantis, Heroes, Chuck and Californication

Tuesday nights we watch: The Rick Mercer Report, Air Farce, Law & Order: SVU, House, The Tudors, Reaper and Pushing Daisies

Wednesday nights we watch: Back To You, Private Practice, Criminal Minds, Life(haven't seen this one yet, but it's taped) and The Bionic Woman.

Thursday nights we watch: CSI, Grey's Anatomy, Survivor and soon Lost

Friday nights we watch:Ghost Whisperer, Las Vegas, Torchwood, Moonlight

Phew... it makes me tired just typing it. Damn it that's a lot of shows to watch EVERY week. That reminds me... Private Practice is starting in 5 minutes so I should hurry this post up.

Even though I haven't been stitching much, I do have some progress pictures to show.

I realized that I never did post my latest progress on Fairy Moon, so here she is at 28 hours work on September 6, 2007

I've also been working on another project for Christmas. It's safe to show it here because it's for my Father in Law who doesn't own a computer. It's a John Deere pattern I took from one of the Cross Stitcher magazines I have upstairs. I don't remember when it was published, but I saw it one day when I was going through my pile o mags and knew it was perfect for him. He loves anything to do with John Deere. He's got an old OLD Deere tractor that he kept using up until last year when the costs for repairs became more than managable. So he went out and bought a new one. Anyhow, I saw this and decided to stitch it for his birthday (June!) but that never happened and I'm now attempting to stick with it long enough to finish it before Christmas. If I can stay with it and not switch to any other projects I just might do it.

In other, non-stitchy news I took Olivia today to get her hair cut at the hair dresser for the very first time. Many people who know me in person know the trouble I've been having with trying to convince Rachel that pulling out big chunks of Olivia's hair is not a suitable passtime.

Anyway, it finally got to be too much for me. Her long hair was too easy to latch on to and I found that if I put Olivia's hair in a ponytail Rachel got a hold of it once in a while, but not nearly as much... so I went one step further with this and decided to get it cut. It had gotten to the point where Olivia is getting bald spots on the top of her head where it's all getting pulled out. It's also looking very messy and unkempt because there was so much breakage further down on her hair. So, lo and behold here is her new look. Don't mind the blurry pictures. My flash is acting up on me and hasn't been working this evening.

In case any of you needed reminded what her hair looked like before here's a shot. Her hair was in a ponytail for the first picture. Jason took these before we left for Sandy's (my hairdresser) but he didn't take her elastic out right away. I reminded him to, but he never thought to take more than one shot of front or back with the hair down and the front shot is horrible. She's making one of the strangest faces I've ever seen. So I guess you guys get to see the before with her elastic in. After all, that is what she looked like most of the time.

I've got more to post about, but don't have time tonight. I guess that's what happens when you wait more than a month between posts...

Fairy Moon and a "big girl bed"

Well, I guess it's been just over a week since I posted last. I've been busy working on Fairy Moon pretty steady. I've done 17.5 hours on her in the last week and the progress looks great so far. I've included a picture of her progress so far. The missing "spaces" in the stitching is where the beads will go. I've never done so much beading before, so it seems a little intimidating, but I know it won't be as bad as I'm expecting it to be.



I've finished my week's rotation on her as of last night and already I can't wait to start stitching her again. I really didn't want to put her down. I'll be back working on Summer Blooms tonight. So far the rotation thing is working well. I haven't switched projects yet that I wasn't dreading leaving the one was currently working on, but then, once I start the new one, I absolutely love working on it too. It definitely keeps me fresh and is exactly what I was hoping would happen.



In non-stitchy news, Olivia got her new "big girl" bed yesterday. We've been talking about it for a while now. She's been trained at night for a while now. She's had a grand total of 3 accidents over the last two months, during the night. Those are pretty good odds. But, just in case, we also bought a plastic sheet for her matress... we're not ones for taking chances. :)



Here's a picture of Olivia seeing her "big girl bed" for the first time yesterday. We set it up while she was at Bible Camp for the morning. She was so excited. I wish I had thought to bring the camera up when she FIRST saw it, the video would have been great, but I forgot it and ended up going downstairs a few minutes later to capture the momentus occasion. *grin* BTW, the reason she has no shirt is because they were playing outside at the end of Bible camp and Olivia came home covered in dirt and mud... I made her strip down before she got in her bed... I didn't feel like washing the sheets again so soon. lol.

Happy Holidays and all that jazz

I came on to post and realized that I never posted an update about Wanda. I guess with all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, once the operation was over and done with I never thought to put it up on here.

Well, everything went wonderfully. The surgeon told Tina (Wanda's daughter) that these were the best set of Donor lungs he's EVER seen and she was able to breathe on her own almost immediately after the surgery. She was kept on the ventilator for a few days because the pain meds she was on were so strong, she slept too deep and occasionally "forgot" to breathe, but once they stepped her down a bit she was fine to come off the ventilator.

She's still in the hospital, but mainly becuase she's waiting for her anti-rejection drugs to arrive. Apparently when you're a NB Transplant patient, you have to wait for the drugs to come from NB. Ontario pays for all the transplant meds for it's citizens, but if you're an NB citizen you only get the anti-rejection drugs paid for... and they have to come from an NB Pharmacy... Not a big surprise there... NB is horrible for their medical coverage, but I assumed that anything paid for by one province would be the same in all the others... I guess I was wrong on that count.

Tina is doing a wonderful job of keeping everyone updated on Wanda's CarePage. It's a free site where a patient signs up and anyone who wants to keep up on their progress can sign up (for free) and subscribe to their updates. If anyone is interested in keeping tabs on her progress and doesn't already have the link, the page is http://www.carepages.com/. You need to sign up and then put her patient name in. (wandanorthrup)

Here's a picture of the Ornaments I (**finally**) finished for Olivia & Rachel this Christmas. This was my very first attempt at "finishing" anything other than to frame it. It's definitely a learning experience. Most of which is trial and error. I've made a few errors, now I know what not to do next time. I still haven't done "Our" ornament (mine and Jason's) I stitched the back piece last night and plan on finishing it before the new year. It never made it on the Christmas tree this year, but at least it'll be finished in 2006 and ready to put on the tree next year. I think I might try to get a few ornaments stitched up soon for next year. Hopefully that means that I don't have to try and do it all at the last minute next year. Not likely, but hopefully *lol*

Christmas went well here. We had a mountain of stuff in the living room under the tree. So much that we sat there looking at it wondering where it all came from. I mean, I know WE didn't buy that much. Santa brought Olivia a Dora the Explorer scooter and some Magnetic letters (for the fridge). He brought Rachel a play center with a "tent" to crawl inside of and a baby doll that squeaks when you squeeze it.

Here are a few "before" and "after" pictures...Before the kids got up and after the carnage! lol

Rachel had so much fun for her very first Christmas! She opened quite a few of her own presents, but when she did, we spent most of our time trying to keep the paper out of her mouth. She had quite an obsession with eating the wrapping paper. Olivia had a good time, because she not only got to open her presents, but about half of Rachel's too.

The girls got a big wagon from my FIL. One of the ones that have the fold up seats and cup holders. It'll come in very handy next summer when we go somewhere. Right now Rachel is a bit too young to spend much time in there, But by this summer it'll be perfect to haul both of them around. It's fun for them and will make my travelling life so much easier. They got a ton of toys and clothes and books. My mom got Rachel her own solid oak rocking chair. She got Olivia one her second Christmas and she saw the exact same one at a store recently and decided that Rachel needed her own as well. We've got Rachel's put away right now, since she's too young to use it now and we don't have enough room downstairs to keep things out that have no chance of getting used. Olivia also got her very own Race Track! She loves it. You "wind" the cars up and put them on the track and they go around and chase each other. It's meant for younger kids, no guns to control the speed, no track that has to be put together every time -- it just folds up when you're done-- and nothing hard they have to do. Another big hit with Olivia was the Care Bears they both got from Rob, Angie and Tyler. Olivia sleeps with hers every night now, and most nights tries to take Rachel's too!

We got so much this year. My FIL got me a Water dispenser that has both hot and cold water and a new pair of Jeans. Now I don't have to heat bottles, I just use the already pre-heated water! My MIL got me a new shirt and got both Jason and I a good shredder. My Mom and her bf got us a $50 GC to the Future Shop and a rain check for a bread maker. Of course, Canadian Tire never has anything in stock when it's on sale, so we're getting it as soon as it's back in. My DH got me lots of stitching stuff. I got a new scroll frame, floss I needed for a project I want to start, a new pattern for my stash -- Fairy Moon by Mirabilia, as well as a few small odds n ends. He also got me a new blouse and some new PJs (both which need to be exchanged).

Jason got a Table saw from his Dad -- which prooves his pet theory that if you think you want something, just borrow it enough and the person you borrow it from will get the hint... He's had his Dad's table saw in our basement for probably 6 months now. lol. His mom and her bf got him a 2gig card for his mp3 player, and the shredder I mentioned above was for both of us. I got him a biscuit jointer, a 4x8 sheet of Pegboard for his workbench and a bunch of the "pegs" to hang the tools on, a case for his mp3 player, a Map book from the girls, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't remember right now. For those who don't know what a biscuit jointer is, basically it's a tool to join pieces of wood together, especially when building furniture.

I've spent the last few days trying to decide what I'm going to do with my new pattern. I need to figure out which fabric to order. This is the reason I LOVE the "Fabric Choices" page I've linked to here, and in my sidebar. You can try out almost all the designs from some of the most popular designers out there (Miribilia, Lavender and Lace, Passione Ricamo, and Teresa Wentzler) and with many of the different specialty fabrics available from some of the biggest names in Hand Dyed Fabrics (Silkweaver, Sugar Maple Fabrics to name just a few) and using the magic of Photoshop, the patterns have a transparent background, so you can get an idea what the pattern would look like on each individual fabric! Like I said, GREAT SITE. You can also load your own fabric or picture scan to check it out. Anyway, after hours of looking through fabrics from many designers and weighing price and colours I think I've decided to go with Silkweaver's "Enchantment" Linnen. Here's an idea of what this should look like using this fabric. Of course the fabric doesn't look exactly the same every time, but hopefully it'll be close enough, because this is the look I fell in love with.

What do you think?

Well, that's enough for today. I should get a LITTLE bit of housework done before Jason gets up. I started the post at 9:51am and now it's 12:03pm, so I think I've spent long enough on here. lol. Mind you, that's including many breaks to play with the kids and do all the normal "Mommy" stuff. I've probably only been on here half an hour or so in total, it just seems like a lot more.