A Bushel & A Peck is FINISHED!

After stitching for 4.5 hours today, I managed to finish La-D-Da's "A Bushel & A Peck". Woohoo!! Stitched on 32 ct. Vintage Autumn Fields using Crescent Colours' Belle Soie silks.



I've not decided whether or not to stitch my initials and date in the space on the left between the inside border and flower's stem. I am SO glad to have this one finished!!

Updates

It's been a productive stitching week for me. Getting back on my rotation has really helped me stay focused and be more productive in my stitching.

If you've been reading my blog, I started my January ornament mid-week. Here's what I had accomplished as of Friday evening.



Not much more to go to get a finish, so I'll probably work on that next week to 'get her done'!

Last night was Saturday Night Stitch. I pulled out LHN's "Sweet Little Berries", my designated SNS project until it's finished. I got in about 2.5 hours and made some good progress. (Laura...wherefore art thou??)

Here is my before pic:



And after last night's stitching time:



In other things, I'm working on setting up my Facebook page! Everyone at work has a Facebook page, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon. We'll see how long I last there! LOL My husband has been feeling puny the past 2 days, so I'm trying to be patient with him. I certainly don't have the gifts of compassion or mercy!!

Today, I'll be working on La-D-Da's "A Bushel and a Peck", so be looking for a progress pic late tonight or tomorrow!! Have a great day today!

My Favorite Stitching "Tool"

I have 2 of these little things. One has a copyright of 1990 and the other is copyrighted 1994. They've been around since the advent of online fabric calculators and pre-cut fabric. On the flip side of my chart, is a DMC checklist and a how to stitch guide. It's convenient for me to use and easy for me to store.

A couple of years ago, while surfing the net, I stumbled across the Designs by Gloria & Pat website. Much to my surprise, I discovered the stitcher's Compucard! There's even a PDF document you can download and store on your hard drive or print out to keep with your stitching supplies.

Head on over to the links above and grab you a copy!

(c:

Thursday's Progress on my Snowman

I spent over 2.5 hours stitching tonight. Thank goodness for decent TV on Thursday nights! LOL Here's my progress.



Hopefully I'll get to stitch on it during my lunch break tomorrow and then again tomorrow evening and will get close to finishing it before moving on to my SNS project.

(c:

Something New!

I finished my Love is in the Air exchange piece last night, so I started on my ornament for January. It's a little freebie from Midnight Stitching entitled, "Snowman's Quaker Christmas". I changed the color of the Quaker motif to CC's Cool Azul. It's just a little start, but it's a start!



It's stitched on 32 ct. Vintage Autumn Blush linen using DMC, GAST, and Crescent Colours.

(c:

Just Checking In

This past week was absolutely crazy! I've been stitching like a mad woman on my Love is in the Air exchange piece. It's so cute, if I do say so myself! However, I won't be able to share my finish with you until it's been received by Donna.

Last night, I didn't have much time to work on my piece for SNS, so I continued on my exchange piece. I've only stitched for about 30 mins. today on my former incentive piece, so there's not much progress there either.

I have posted a recipe for Hawaiian Banana Nut Bread on my food blog. Take a peek! I also made a pretty labor intensive dinner for us tonight. (What was I thinking?!?) We had oven fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, and cranberry fluff. Everything was very yummy, but I'm pooped!

On the cat front, Hannah is back on Zenequin for her bacterial infection. In addition to the antibiotic, she's on a nasal drop antibiotic, Genticin. She loves medicine time because she gets cheese treats, but she's not real excited about those nose drops. Her little nose is so tiny that it's hard to get the drop in each nostril with 100% accuracy. I think she's got to be on the Zenequin for another 20 days. We have to call the vet about that because there was mass confusion about the prescription.

Callie has been extremely feisty and playful the past couple of weeks. I don't know what's gotten into her, but I'm glad it has! I love to see her playing and acting like a little kitty. She's been jumping up on my lap and walking all over my computer desk, batting at my pens, and dragging the string toy off the desk. I was trying to make notes during a phone conversation but was unable to because she kept biting the top of the pen! I'm so proud of my little girl and how she keeps coming out of her shell.

Here she is playing with the string on my desk.



And here's her sweet little self after playing in the hole in the paper.

Taco Soup & Cornbread

If you'd like to make this tasty cold-weather meal, head on over to my food blog!

Hannah's Still Sick

Yup, the little girl went for a recheck (reculture) of her nasal passages and she's still got that nasty pseudomonas bacterial infection. Ugh! The good news is that she's much better now than she was 6 weeks ago when she had her fist culture done. She's sneezing less, she has less nasal discharge, she's less congested, she's more energetic, more feisty, and getting into more trouble. :o) So, now we wait a few more days until the sensitivity test results come back to determine what drug she'll be on next. The sensitivity test is where they (the lab people) inject various antibiotics into the bacteria and see which one is most successful at attacking it and eradicating it. As I've mentioned before when discussing this, pseudomonas is one of the most resistant bacteria out there, so finding out that she still has the infection doesn't completely surprise me. Pray for the little pest to get well, please. Here she is enjoying the sunshine a couple of days ago.

A Bushel & A Peck Won the Screaming Match

I decided to work on BAAP more so because I've already got one LHN in my rotation and sometimes too much of a good thing gets really boring. So in between making banana bread with the really,really ripe bananas sitting on my kitchen counter, taking a nap, then waking up to make dinner of taco soup & cornbread (yummy!), here's my progress. Tomorrow, I return to my exchange piece!



In other news, I have started a food blog. I felt like I was posting too many food posts here, so they have a new home. You can visit it by clicking on the link to In the Kitchen With Stephanie in the sidebar. I posted my Lemon Pound Cake recipe with pics this morning.

My First SNS Progress Report for 2009

I've decided to work on LHN's Sweet Little Berries as my SNS project until it's finished. I've only had this thing in my WIPs pile for about 3 years and I'm ready for it to move out!

Here's where I started:



And here's where I stopped after almost 3.5 hours of stitching.



Tomorrow, I'll be working on another LHN chart, City Stitcher, Country Stitcher, but I really hear my La-D-Da piece screaming at me. We'll have to see who wins the screaming contest! LOL

:o)

Stitching Goals & January Rotation

Every month on the OOE board, we are encouraged to post our stitching goals and self-challenges. Seldom do I accomplish what I start out to do, and I'm thinking it's because I don't keep a copy of them. (Ya think?!?) So, here are my goals and self-challenges for January.

Goals:
1. Start January 1st piece (The Busy Needle) and add to rotation.
2. Start and finish 1 ornie.
3. Finish Love is in the Air exchange piece for Donna and mail.
4. Start LHN Threadpack.
5. Participate in SNS as able.
6. Stitch on former incentive pieces on Sundays.

Self-Challenges:
1. Record daily stitching time.
2. Stick to rotation.
3. Make annual ornie list.
4. Make annual project goals list.
5. Start my winter sowing project (gardening related).

As you can see, one of my self-challenges is to stick to my rotation. I think that I've recovered from the holidays enough to do this. I also think that for SNS and my former incentive piece Sunday projects, I'm going to stick to one project each month so I can really see some progress. Of course, top priority of my weekly projects is anything with a deadline, which this month is my Love is in the Air exchange piece. If I don't get it finished during its scheduled week, then I'll continue with that the following week. Of course, this will totally upset the apple cart, but I'm learning to roll with the punches.

Here's my January rotation plan:

Basic Weekly Rotation:
Mon-Fri~project
Sat~Saturday Night Stitch (LHN's Sweet Little Berries)
Sundays~Former Incentive SAL piece (undecided as of now)

Here's how it'll (hopefully) pan out for the entire month:
1st & 2nd~The Busy Needle
SNS
Incentive SAL piece

Week 1
Mon-Fri~exchange piece
SNS
FI SAL

Week 2
Mon-Fri~ornie (Quaker Snowman possibly)
SNS
FI SAL

Week 3
Mon-Fri~begin LHN Threadpack (maybe the saltbox series)
SNS
FI SAL

Week 4
Mon-Fri~The Busy Needle
SNS
FI SAL

Now that it's in writing for all the world to see, perhaps I'll get a few things finished and out of the way. Once I get my ornie list and yearly project list finished, I'll post those as well.

January 1st Piece Progress

I spent almost 4 hours on my January 1st piece, The Busy Needle by Little House Needleworks. Now I remember why I don't particularly like monochromatic designs! LOL Here's what I got done today.



Tomorrow, I return to work, so my stitching time will be limited, but I'll continue working on this. Saturday is Saturday Stitch Night and I think I'm going to work on LHN's Sweet Little Berries.

It's 2009!!

As for me and my husband, we spent a quiet New Year's Eve at home watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", snacking, and I stitched on my exchange piece. Today, I'll bake a lemon pound cake and start my Jan. 1st piece. Look for an update later on this evening!

May blessings abound to you and your family in 2009.

:)