I've Made It!

Project Challenge is complete!!! Woo Hoo! Here's a scissor fob I created for Mo in the UK. I finished it on 2/2/07, but didn't want to show it until she got the package. She finally received it today... and I'm glad she likes it! *whew* It's stitched on 14ct Fiddler's Cloth aida. The front is a motif from Prairie Schooler Book 17 "Woodland Sampler". The back came from Cross Country Stitching Alphabets Special Issue 1999. I changed all the colors to coordinate, using Six Strand Sweets floss. The cording is handmade from DMC floss.


Here's the breakdown of the projects I completed for the challenge:

1. Therapy Bookmark
2. Cardinal Snowflake Ornament
3. Freedom
4. Yummy Gingerbread Man Ornament
5. Santa Ornament
6. Gingerbread House Ornament
7. Ascot Albert Ornament
8. Winnie the Pooh Bookmark "Let's Bee Friends"
9. Brass Hummingbird Bookmark
10. Scissor Fob

Here's the fob Mo made for me. It's called "In My Garden" by Shepherd's Bush. Turned out lovely, didn't it?

Front

Back

Just Another Manic Monday

Brrr! It’s COLD out there! The thermometer says 8 below zero F. Forecasters say with windchill factored in, it’s about 20-30 below in the frozen tundra of northern Illinois!

I woke up this morning to a huge mess made by my little dog, Celeste. Sometime during the night she got sick. Not only once… but 3 times! They weren’t just little messes either. It was disgusting!! How can such a little thing make such a nasty mess? (Think liquidy, smelly baby diapers, and you’ll have a good idea)

My car is still acting up. About twice a month now I find that the battery is dead and I can’t start my car. Even though I still have my brother’s battery charger, I went out and bought myself one. I had a 2nd mechanic look at the car today. He had the same diagnosis as the other one. Battery fine. Alternator fine. Starter fine. Basically, neither one knows why the battery goes dead on the car. The 2nd one did say that the serpentine belts need to be replaced and they could be causing the problem if they’re slipping. Aside from replacing parts on a whim, there isn’t anything they can do until something BIG happens. Nice diagnosis!! I guess in a couple weeks, I’ll have the belts replaced and see if that helps.

I finished my Project Challenge!!! I finished up a scissors fob for an exchange I'm in for another group. Can't show the pics yet until the person gets it. I’ve managed to get some stitching done over the past several days. I’ve been working on my OLDEST UFO, Mime. It's a Candamar kit my brother bought me over 15 years ago. I think it's about time I get it finished, don't you? I've updated my stash-for-sale album, too... if anyone is interested.

My online meteorology class has kept me very, very busy! It's all I can do to keep caught up… reading the textbook, doing workbook assignments, participating in online discussion threads, and viewing the online slideshows! The nice thing about it is... We have opportunities for extra credit by participating in online discussion threads. My first quiz will be this week. I took the practice quiz and got a 93% so hopefully I do as well on the real one.

Since there was a parting of the ways with D, all of a sudden I've got several people who are interested in going on dates with me. Funny how that works... You don't go on dates forever, and then all of a sudden there are 5! Go figure.

Saturday night, I took my nephew to the Monster Truck Thunder Nationals for his birthday. He will be turning 11 this week. It's become an annual birthday ritual since I've taken him every year since he was 4. He looks forward to it. LOL, for me... once you've seen one truck run over a car, you've seen them all. However, I'd rather spend the money and time with him creating these memories than to buy a toy that will be forgotten 5 years from now. Every year I buy him a tshirt… and every year he gets a Grave Digger tshirt. LOL I also get him a program book. After the show, we stand in line so he gets autographs of all the drivers. This year, the lucky boy got an extra tshirt from one of the ATV racers at the show. The back was autographed by all the ATV racers! How fun is that for a 10yr old boy??

When I was with my nephew, he said his Dad had been sick. Today, I got a text message from my SIL telling me that he’d passed out at work and was taken to the ER. Turns out he has pneumonia... and will probably be staying in the hospital for at least a day. I’m sure that he didn’t go to the Dr. prior to this… takes after my Dad like that. Don’t go until you fall to the floor!

First Finish of 2007

I stayed up late last night to finish up the backstitching on this bookmark. It came from a kit by Bucilla called Brass Stitchables Hummingbird Bookmark. As you can probably guess, the bookmark is made of brass.

This counts as #9 toward my Project Challenge. Projects Completed so far:

1. Therapy Bookmark
2. Cardinal Snowflake Ornament
3. Freedom
4. Yummy Gingerbread Man Ornament
5. Santa Ornament
6. Gingerbread House Ornament
7. Ascot Albert Ornament
8. Winnie the Pooh Bookmark "Let's Bee Friends"

Nine down... One to go!

Enroute to Australia

One of my blogger buddies offered to participate in an ornament exchange with me. Wasn't that nice of her? I actually stitched this ornament up on 10/22/06, but couldn't show it until now. After all, I wanted Tessa in Australia to be surprised.


This ornament is called Cardinal Snowflake. It was designed by Thea Dueck. I changed the design a bit and added Mill Hill Beads. It's stitched on 28ct seafoam green linen with DMC floss, #8 perle cotton, and Kreinik #4 braid. I made the cording myself with DMC B5200. I thought it turned out pretty good for my first time making an ornament out of linen. There's a few flaws, but that's what makes it unique, right? Right! In my opinion, these photos don't do it justice. It's the best I could come up with.








I re-created the snowflake design on the back and put my name, country and year in the center. The frog came out a couple times before I got it right.

This is the 2nd project completed that goes toward my Project Challenge:

1. Therapy Bookmark

Gingerbread House Ornament

Here's #6 toward my Challenge Project. It's stitched on 14ct red aida with DMC floss and #032 Kreinik Blending Filament. The photo doesn't show it well, but the BF makes the white snow all glittery. The pattern came from the Leisure Arts book called 250 Christmas Quickies. It took me about 8 hours to stitch it up. The cording is handmade from DMC floss 3865 and 304.

Projects Completed so far:
1. Therapy Bookmark
2. Cardinal Snowflake Ornament
3. Freedom
4. Yummy Gingerbread Man Ornament
5. Santa Ornament

Santa Ornament

I finished this ornament on November 12th, but couldn't show it until now. The design came from a book called, "100 Cross Stitch Ornaments" by Carol Siegel & Dimensions Design Studio. It was made for Lynne in Canada as part of the SNS2 ornament exchange. I stitched it over-one on 28ct linen with DMC threads, and finished it off with a string of pearls. It took me about 16 hours to stitch. Didn't it turn out nice?

This is the 5th project completed that goes toward my Project Challenge:

1. Therapy Bookmark
2. Cardinal Snowflake Ornament
3. Freedom
4. Yummy Gingerbread Man Ornament

Who Needs Therapy?

Shhh... I do, but don't tell anyone!




Here's my first project toward THE challenge. It's a bookmark stitched on a 14ct white aida bookmark with a crocheted edge. The photo really doesn't do it justice with the Glissen Gloss Colorwash Japanese silk floss and DMC floss. Colorwash silk is really nice to work with! The design came from the Oct '06 issue of Stoney Creek magazine. One down, 9 more to go...

10/25/50 Project Challenge

I’m taking a deep breath and jumping right in! Oh what have I done? I just committed myself to the 10/25/50 Project Challenge. Actually, I committed myself to the 10 project challenge, since my projects are BAPs with little ones in between. Heaven knows I need to go on a stash diet, and I have plenty of To-Do’s in my stash.

Purpose of the Challenge: to reduce the amount of patterns not stitched, and stash not used.

The Rules:
1. Have fun reducing my stash.

2. There is no time limit.

3. Thou shall not purchase any new patterns until 10 projects have been stitched. Pattern size does not matter.

4. Exemptions. Remember, the goal of this challenge is to reduce stash so too many exemptions will sabotage these efforts.

My exemptions are:
Gifts, gift cards, trades, RAKs.
Floss and Fabric (i.e supplies) for projects stitched during challenge do not count.

5. The official start date of this challenge was Sept 1, 2006.

Ready! On your mark! Get set! Go!

UPDATE: I finished the Project Challenge on Feb 7, 2007!! All my projects can be seen HERE.