Stitchy Stuff and the end of the year

Here is my Fair and square exchange to Vicki. She received it so now I can show my final cross stitch piece for the year. She loves birds so I knew I had to do this freebie from Vermillion stitchery It was so much fun to do.

Also in the year 2008 I plan to start or try a new hobbie. I want to try scrapbooking. I don't know that I will post the pages up on here or not.

In the meantime, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! See you in 2008!

Completed Projects through 2007

Okay all in I finished:

10 crochet projects: pincushion, hat, bag, hoodie sweater, barbie dress, stuffed bear and elephant, and 3 magnets

27 cross stitch projects:

4 rounds of the Fair and Square exchange, 2 bookmarks, 4 scissor fobs, 2 needlebooks, 1 biscournu, 8 Ornaments, 5 Medium Projects, 1 large project which should be finished early January 2008 and 1 BAP which may be another few years till its completed.

All in all I think I got a lot done in 2007, how did your year go?

Christmas 2007

Newsboy Cap Finished! And xmas slide

Newsboy Cap

Red Heart Super Saver yarn

Country Blue

Started: July 02- 06, 2007 Completed: December 27 -28, 2007

Okay I know my stitcher friends that you have seen a lot of crocheting as of lately. But I have been going through my stash and pulling out those projects that need completing. This hat, I had made the diamond shapes but then put it away so last night I found it and decided to put them together and finish off the hat. Its an adult size but I had no other female around to model it for me. Maybe tonight I can get my DH to snap a picture of me in it.

Okay time to go see what I am going to work on next. :)

Etsy shop Now Open!

Okay well after the holidays and all, I have some bills in need of paying and Ruby needs to go to the vet and get fixed so I am going through my stash and will be selling things I no longer have interest in doing. I'll be adding a little bit each day so please do keep checking. I put the link in my sidebar -------------------------->>>
I'm also thinking of crocheting some things too for those who don't know how or don't want to crochet. I take requests too. :)

Shell Stitched Flower Bag

Shell Stitched Flower Bag

Red Heart Yarn

Started: December 22, 2007 Completed: December 24, 2007

Page 7 Complete and PIF Gift Received

Here is the great PIF gift I have received from Michele. I saw the tin and was instantly excited! You all know how much I love snowmen. She also included an adorable santa ornament (which is already on my tree) that she stitched up and had someone else do the finishing. And what a cute box of chocolates, a reindeer card, a pillow insert, and a beautiful skein of overdyed floss by Needle Necessities #152. I'm already thinking of what I can stitch to put into this cute little pillow this floss. Thanks Michele!!!

And here is my excitement! I completed page 7 last night! I still need to work on page2 which is whats left of the moon you see there. I did a little last night and I may continue it till I'm bored with the yellow again and then I am going to do page 6. so anyway this is 4 1/2 pages completed out of 20 pages but 2 are blank. I was wondering whne I started this so I looked up my first WIP photo and can you believe I started this Nov 01, 2006? I hadn't realized that I only got this little bit done in a year, which is motivation enough that I am going to work on this for awhile and see how much more I can get done before another project screams at me.

EDIT: I also completed my Round 4 F&S Exchange last Friday and have mailed it out today too so Vicki, its coming your way in the USA. :)

On the non stitching side Here is my xmas tree this year. Destiny and I did the decorating and the DH put fiber optic Santa up there. Please ignore my DH's workout bench to the left and the toolbox behind the tree or those hideous curtains either. Our house is a bit over crowded so deciding where to put the tree each year is a toughy. But we are currently working on cleaning out the basement so this stuff can go down there and I can have my space back. I think I have most of my xmas shopping completed and now it all needs wrapping up. I also have my tree up which my DH refused to help put up so Destiny and I did all by ourselves. I also put out a few of my xmas decorations around the house too but I don't feel much like celebrating this year. I did my grocery shopping on saturday and paid $10 for a small ham for xmas. I have never liked cooking turkey's so I do ham on xmas. Anyway today I went up to the store with a friend of mine since I needed to buy wrapping paper. Well we go into the commissary so she can get some groceries first and she tells me she is hosting xmas at her house this year. The Lindsey's had originally volunteered to host it but backed out last night. So she has $60 to buy 2 weeks of groceries for 2 adults and 3 kids plus xmas dinner for everyone. I'm like holy crap! But didn't ask how that ended up since their finances are not my business. Anyay so she went to the hams and we are noticing they are all expired! So I think holy crap I didn't even look at mine! well, once we got home I looked and sure enough its says Nov 21st! Now I am pissed! The commissary is getting horrible for expired foods. I can never buy ham from them and Destiny loves ham! The cherry tomatoes were moldy so that was out of the question. I hate this! During the summer I get Euros and go off base to the German farmers market to buy my fruits and veggies but its now winter and I am forced to stay at the commissary especially because the USD to Euro rate is outrageous! Why is it that this commissary has such low food standards?? I think I am going to start putting in some complaints or find out who I can speak to about this. Even most of their fruit is bad too. So here I am with a expired ham that i now have to return to the store and get refunded. I think I may just say forget it and pay the extra money to go out onto the economy to the German stores if it means I get fresh fruit and veggies.

Chinese Goddess of Mercy

Okay this is how far I got last night before I decided I wanted to get Round 4 of the F&S Exchange done up and out of the way. So all day I have been working on my squares for Vicki. I am hoping to mail them off on Friday afternoon after the girls and I get our flu shots or nasal sprays I should say since the only shots now are for under 2 yrs old. Anyway, I have to go to the post office on Friday so I wanted to mail off the exchange too so I have no worries about forgotten deadlines through the holidays. Its not due to mail out until January 5th but I'll forget or I'll worry about forgetting so much that I'll hardly sleep. Yes, I know it sounds stupid to lose sleep over these things but I am one of those people that if I have something to do, I hardly sleep until its done. A Dr, once told me if I make a list of everything that needs doing, then I'll rest easier knowing its written down and so I won't forget it. Great idea! except I never do it or I forget to. Anyway I still want to complete this page by the weekend or over the weekend so I better get back to those squares so I can return to my Goddess of Mercy.

A little more progress on Page 7

Well here she is as of Sunday night. I worked on her a lot but I don't feel like I got a lot done. That little part of the moon felt like it took me forever. I am hoping to finish this page up this week. To her left is the little girl which is what I'll be doing next after this page.

Chinese Goddess of Mercy WIP and Round 3 F&S Exchange

Okay here she is so far as of last night. For those of you that have read my blog for awhile now, I knw you recognize her and I know I haven't worked on her in several months. I did all the outlining to page 7, I wanted you all to see how big one page is. There is still a partial moon that goes on the left side too. I know I need to get a rotation in so that maybe some progress happens in all those WIP's that you see on the right side of my blog. But I just can't seem to get myself into a rotation. As some of these WIP's including this one are on Aida cloth and I am starting to veer away from it. So what happens to those WIP's? I am going to try my hardest to finish them and if I can't then I will see if one of my sisters want them. Not this one though, its a BAP and so I am determined to complete it and turn it into a wallhanging. Though it could be another year or so before this is complete unless I work on it continously but you all know how I feel about filling in the moons on here, it boring and tedious so I think I will definitly save these for when I am watching a movie with my DH, then I won't be having the frog come for a visit.

I finally recieved my round 3 squares for the Fair and square Exchange from Peg. She really likes samplers so she did this one up for me. She did it in this color to make it look like fall which I think it does. Its very nice Peg, thank you. I just got them in today and Peg had posted to them to the board not knowing if I had received them or not which kinda ruined the surprise but oh well it doesn't change how I feel about them.

Crocheted Barbie Dress

Crocheted Barbie Dress

Designed by Me

December 02, 2007

I made this dress for this barbie for Kiley for Christmas. I kind of designed this dress as I went along. But I wrote it down as I went in case it came out ok and I think so. Maybe I'll try my hand at designing another one. I really haven't done much else. With my DH gone in Graff all week on detail duty I have been a little extended. Kiley isn't sleeping at night and with continous excuses of aches and pains that are all in her head, she has been up and down every night all night. Anyways let me know what you think. :)

Happy Dance, WIP, and Daisy Induction

Crocheted Blue Bear

Annie's Attic Cuddle Buddies

7 inches high sitting

November xx, 2007 to November 29, 2007

Caron Simply Soft Country Blue Ombre yarn

This is a ridge lap blanket I started a few months ago and forgot to post on here. I still have about 100 or so rows to go so this won't be a finish this year.

And below are some pics of my oldest DD, Destiny's Daisy Scouts Induction. She's the second one from the left holding the yellow petal in the first picture. She earned her first daisy petal for couragous. She also earned a few other patches for attending a few events. She missed her veterans day patch because they didn't inform everyone properly that there was an event. She is also missing her USA flag and troop numbers, a friend of mine was suppose to order those for me and she didn't so I asked her troop leader to order them for me.

Here she is getting pinned as an official daisy scout! :)

And here they all are joining hands in friendship and singing the Daisy song.

F&S Exchange and Stuffed animal

Here is my Round #3 F&S Exchange to Peg, I just heard yesterday that she recieved this a week ago, glad it made it safely and that you like it Peg. :)

And here is the stuffed animal I am making for Nick, Dawn's son. Its a Bear and he'll be about 7 inches tall sitting, the same size as Eley. Hopefully I can finish him up today.

I also decided to use December to try and finish up some WIP's before the year ends so I will not be starting any new projects outside of what I need for Christmas gifts.

New project

Okay so last night my DH brought home this package filled with stuffing and 3 skeins of yarn and so what else could I do but start the little stuffed animal I told my dear friend Dawn I would make for her son Nick. I'm not telling what this will be when finished since I want it to be a surprise but do expect more pictures as I finish more of it. And since he likes blue like his momma she sent me this soft multi-colored blue yarn. This is what I completed as of last night. Since the yarn is 2 ply it will be a bit smaller than Eley (who I made earlier this year for her son Chris) which I used 4 ply. I like making these stuffed animals. Their so much fun to create and I love the smiles it puts on the kids faces.

On a scary side I went through something awful yesterday. I was cleaning my kitchen and my little one was playing by the front door. I had forgotten there was a trash bag with broken glass in it that her dad was suppose to take out that morning and forgot. Anyway she came running in crying and her right hand was sliced open pretty good. She had cut her hand on a piece of glass poking out of the bag. You could see the insides of her hand tendons and all. I knew she needed stitches so I called her dad to come home immediately and by the time he got home I had the bleeding slowed to a crawl. I tossed a sterile cloth over it and we took her to the clinic her on base and the head pediatrician looked at and then told us he didn't have time to fix her up right now as he had to take care of triage and some other things (I was pissed!) and said he would give us a numbing cream and we should go to the klinikum (German hospital) so we sat for 15 minutes and waited for this cream and then off to the klinikum we went. By the time we got there she had stopped crying and was doing ok. They sent us to surgery and their Dr made my heart skip a beat. He said she may have cut her tendons and may need surgery. She wouldn't bend her pinky finger for the Dr, nurse or her daddy so I told her is she wanted ice cream she needed to bend her fingers and I shode her on my hand and she just copied me so thankfully no surgery but it took 3 of us to hold her down while he put in 3 stitches. They used a local anesthetic before stitching her up but I don't think it worked. She fought and screamed at the Dr the whole time. My DH and I couldn't believe the anger she had and he finally understood the kind of strength I had been telling him she had. Once he stopped stitching her up she stopped crying and allowed the nurse to clean her wound (she had bleed all over the table and her arm) and bandage her up and then the nurse gave her a tootsie pop and she was excited to finally be going bye bye. The stitches have to stay in for 14 days and then the clinic here on base can remove them for her. But I was still scared all that blood coming out and seeing inside her hand. She is doing good now, she ran into a wall in the niddle of the night and fell on her hand so I gave her more ibuprofen and stayed with her until she drifted off to sleep.

Happy 3rd Birthday Kiley and ornament finish

Okay first, a giant Happy birthday to my little girl Kiley, who turned 3 today! She absolutely LOVES Hello Kitty so her Oma in Texas sent her a blanket and pillow where the blanket fits inside the pillow when traveling. So cute! She also recived matching Pj's like her sister which excited them both and she got a couple of puppies. :)

Next i finally was able to sit and finish up this ornament though as to when I will actually make it into an ornament is another story. We'll see how it goes.

Ornament WIP

Well this shows you how much downtime I have had the last several days. Been to appointments and meetings like crazy. Plus both DD's have bad colds. So poor Destiny isn't eating but her blood sugars have been running high so she is getting all kinds of extra shots to keep it normal. It was normal this morning so no extra shot but she is still sick. I'm glad today is their last day of school for Thanksgiving break. They will get to rest more tomorrow before we go to our friends for Thanksgiving. I'm making candied yams to take with. It should be nice though there will be a lot of people in a little apartment and their middle DD went home sick yesterday.

Anyway, back to stitching. I think I am going to finish this ornament up and then start on my Miribila xmas fairy in hopes of completing her in time for xmas. But I also have to crochet a barbie dress for this naked barbie I bought. Its for my youngest DD for xmas and I still owe her a matching hoodie like the one I made for my oldest DD earlier this year. So who knows how much of her will actually get done. Anyway I'll keep posting my progress too.

Happy 6th Birthday Destiny!

Today my oldest turns 6 years old. I'm in shock, she has grown so fast. This is her on her way to school this morning. Do you see her hair? I put her in pigtails and she wasn't happy so I tucked the tails into her hairbands and now she thinks they look like bunny ears, lol. So they stayed. Please excuse the mess behind her, its from breakfast and I snapped this picture before she left for school and before I had the chance to clean it up. You can also see part of my kitchen grapes decor. DH says I'm a little OCD about it, I am always looking for new grapes things to put in my tiny kitchen. :)

Christmas Eve Ornament

Christmas Eve by Elizabeth's Designs

Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments 10th Anniversary Collection

9 in x 8 in

DMC floss and Mill Hill antique beads

32 ct Belfast Opalescent Linen

I changed up the colors listed for this ornament and there are also two glass treasures used which I didn't have so I left out. Luckily I had the correct colored beads. You just can't see the lines of snow under the tree.

Today we got our list of partners and there address for Round 4 of the F&S exchange and even though they aren't due to mail out until Jan 5th, 2008 I am thinking I will stop making ornaments and get Vicki's squares done and mailed before the holiday rush.

I had such a scare today. I awoke to find that Ruby was missing. She wasn't in the house and the only person that came in and out that morning was my DH so of course I'm worried about her and really upset that my DH has now managed to lose both our cats in less than 1 year. Otis is gone forever and so I don't want to lose Ruby but she is in heat right now and tries to get out every chance she gets but she is terrified of our basement and that seems to be where she always goes. So after I got Destiny off to school, I took Kiley's hand and we set off down to the basement to search for her. But it turns out there are moving men on the other end of the basement so all the doors were open. She had left the building. I looked around outside and couldn't find her.

I picked up Destiny early for for her monthly nutrionist appointment and all went fine there but on the walk home I had to explain to Destiny that our little kitten was gone. I felt terrible! She burst into tears and cried most of the way home. After we got into the house and she put her back pack away I told her lets go outside and look one more time. But we saw nothing outside and its freezing so i figured she would go somewhere warm. I saw the door open across the street so I went into there and pulled open the basement door and went down the steps with both girls trailing me. I called out Ruby's name and she came running to me! I was so thrilled and so were the girls! We brought her home with a little bit of a fight because the truck driving by scared her so she tried to run. But she is happy to be home, shes rubbing up on the carpet and against the kids eager to be petted. I'm glad she comes to me when I call her, that helped so much. I'm still waiting for the vet to call me with an appointment to get her fixed. Theres a waiting list. We also plan to get her chipped while they have her knocked out so if she gets out anyone who finds her can return her. I do have her rabies tag on her and thats how she was returned last time. We only seem to have problems when she goes into heat so hopefully she'll get an appointment soon. I hope she didn't locate a male cat, we don't need babies.

Britty Christmas Kitty

Britty Christmas Kitty by Brittercup Designs

32 count Belfast Opalescent

DMC Floss and Mill Hill beads

1 3/4 in x 1 3/4 in

November 10, 2007

Finished up this one too today. I wanted to post it up before I go to bed for the night. I am really enjoying these quick little finishes anfter working on the same design for 5 weeks. I decided not to stitch in the ornaments and star on the tree and also the heart on the kitty so I did them all up in beads to give it a little more pop effect. Both my girls are trying to claim this one and my youngest DD ran and got Ruby our cat to show her, she said 'look its you!' LOL I had to laugh, my little 2 year old still says te cutest things. :)

Also I realized I never posted a photo of the sweater I made for my new little kindergartener so here it is:

Kaleidescope Kids sweater

Red Heart Plum Pudding Yarn

Completed Semptember 02, 2007

I think this only took me 2 or 3 weeks to complete and I used little multi colored daisy flower buttons. Now I owe my youngest DD one too, just not sure when I will get time to make it. :)

Two Happy Dances!

Miribilia Halloween Fairy

32 count Natural Linen from Zweigart

Stitched using Crescent Colours and Mill Hill glass beads

6 3/4 in x 7 1/4 in

Stitched 2 over 2

October 01, 2007 to November 09, 2007

Penguin Hugs by Paw Printings

Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments 10th Anniversary Collection
14 count neon blue Aida cloth

Stitched using DMC floss and Mill Hill glass beads

3 2/3 in x 3 in

Stitched 1 over 1

November 09, 2007 to November 10, 2007

I'm also mailing out my F&S squares round 3 on Tuesday. I recieved Pegs address ffrom Annemarie. Thanks so much Annemarie! For some reason Vonna's emails are not coming through. Anyway the Post office is closed Friday through Monday for the four day here so I have to wait for Tuesday to send them out but I'm going to send them the fastest way possible since I received her address so late. I don't want her to have to wait longer because of emails not getting through.

Miribilia Halloween Fairy and F&S Exchange

Okay here is my round 2 squares for the fair and square exchange. I had to use Ulla's photos as I guess I forgot to take pictures before I mailed them off.
Now we are through with round 3 but mine aren't mailed out to my new partner Peg because I do not have her address, Vonna sent me it again but I didn't receive it. I even checked my bulk and spam folder andit wasn't there either so I am trying to get a hold of vonna to get Peg's address still. Hopefully soon. And as soon as Peg has her squares from me I will post a picture of them here for you all to see. I remembered to take a picture this time!


And here is my Miribilia Fairy as of Sunday evening before I went to bed. I'm almost finished with her. But its wierd working on her now as its past Halloween but I hate to put her away until next year with so much of her completed. I am hoping by the time I post next Monday I will have a completed one to show you.

I am going to try and finish up my last 2 PIF gifts this week too so on the 15th I can just take all of them to the post office and get them mailed out before all the holiday packages start going out.

Miribilia Halloween Fairy and Monochromatic exchange

Alrighty Blogger is finally loading up pictures so here is what I stitched this month.

October 1st through October 15th

October 15th through October 22nd

October 22nd through October 29th

And I had an exchange come in also, this was for the monochromatic colour exchange through TOL, my partner chose purple for me and funny enough I chose purple for my partner. Emilie in Nova Scotia sent me this cute scissor fob and little silver scissors, it was her first one and I think she did a great job. Thanks Emilie!

And here is what I sent my partner, I'm drawing a blank right now on who I sent to but I used different shades of purple, this was my second needlebook but I like how this one came out better, I used a plastic canvas on the inside to stiffen it up more so it was more like a book.