Happy Dance #18

I am definitely on a roll! Here is happy dance #18. It is Emblem of Friendship by Louise Henderson of Cherished Stitches. The design is from the 2006 JCS Ornie issue. I started stitching it yesterday (while "cooking" my fabric) and I finished it today. I was a bit concerned about finishing it as all my other ornies were either square or rectangular. Lo and behold! This was actually very easy to finish! I really must, MUST miter my corners now as it makes finishing so much easier. The project was stitched on 28 count light gray Jobelan using DMC 150, stitched 2 over 2.



Edited to add: Sweet Pea, I added a picture of the back for you. I didn't use cardboard for this ornament. I stitched the two sides together and filled it with polyester batting.

Ornie Happy Dance

This is now Happy Dance #17 for 2007. I started and finished this today. It's Merry Christmas by Nancy Boyarsky of Glory Bee. I was lucky enough to find the JCS 2003 Ornament issue when I went LNS hopping with Jenn back in May. I stitched the ornie on a piece of 32 count Queen Anne's Lace Jobelan using DMC 115, GAST Blue Spruce and Toasted Marshmallow. Its a really small ornie and was a very quick stitch.

I'm off to search for an ornie to celebrate Ayame's first Christmas. I'm thinking of something Snowman, but I haven't decided which one yet.

Old HDs Revisited

I was going through my stitching albums last night and realized how the camera and/or scanner just do not do justice to a lot of my stitching. So I decided that every other day or so I will revisit an old HD and try to take a better photograph. I've also been inspired by other bloggers who take angle shots of their work to show of the texture of their stitching. Very artistic indeed!

So here is Butternut Road's Provence Sampler designed by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum.




The top photo shows off the sparklies really well. I "disobeyed" sampler rules and stitched it on 32 count white opalescent Belfast Linen instead of a neutral or antique looking fabric. I stitched it with Caron Waterlilies Monsoon. I think I ended up needing 3 skeins to finish the project. It only took me 2 months to finish it.

I have a whole yard of white opalescent fabric in my stash. I was thinking of stitching Paradigm Lost on it, but I haven't decided on the floss color yet. Any suggestions?

Number 16!

This is my 16th stitched project for 2007. Its Pumpkins by LHN. I loved working on this design. I stitched it on 28 count light gray Jobelan using the Crescent Colors floss provided in the chart pack. I wish there was more contrast between Brandied Pears (wagon) and Cocoa Bean (wheels), other than that, I like the results.

Happy Dance!

I finally finished Spot of Coffee. It took me almost a month, but then there were some days when I didn't get to stitch at all. Also, having multiple projects slowed it down. I stitched it on 28 count tea-dyed Charles Craft linen using DMC floss. I did not like the linen at all. The weave was very lose and the texture was a bit rough. I really like the design though. I haven't decided where to stitch my name and date on the piece.

Inspiration!

Lo and behold! Happy Dance number 14 for this year!


I stitched it on a piece of hand dyed linen purchased from The Needle Hive using DMC 3865. The design is called Inspiration and ***I*** designed it! :) Yes, I am so proud of myself. I originally designed it to be a little bigger, but I excluded the outer bits. It looks so light and delicate right now and the waffle stitches that I was going to stitch on the outside would just make it too heavy, distracting from the delicate center. Anyway, I had so much fun designing this piece. I have DH to thank for inspiring (yes, pun intended) me to design. :) He encouraged me to try it and I did! Sooo much fun! I have a couple more designs in the works. They still need a lot of tweaking though. What I really love about this is that I am trying out new-to-me stitches and I get to experiment with textures.

No, Spot of Coffee isn't finished yet. It sat on the scanner until I had to take it out to scan Inspiration. Oh well. I will try to work on it some tonight and this weekend.

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Noreen, I buy generic diapers from Stop and Shop. Each pack costs $6.99 (48 pieces for size 2). Sometimes I buy Pampers or Huggies, but only if I have a coupon and if it comes out to be less than $6.99. I've also tried Walgreens' generic diapers, but SNS is still cheaper. I tried generic wipes, but I didn't like the ones from SNS. They tore easily and even the unscented ones still smelled a bit. I much prefer Pampers Sensitive Wipes.

Arabesque Alphabet Take 2

As promised, here is Arabesque Alphabet A by Passione Ricamo. I stitched it on 32 count Queen Anne's Lace Jobelan using Iris Waterlilies.

I am still working on my LHN project. I think its going well considering I don't have as much time to stitch as I used to. I'm hoping to finish that in about a week.

3 Months Old!

Can you believe how big my baby is now? Time is going so fast. It seems like only yesterday that I gave birth.

A few hours after birth

One month old

2 months old

3 months old

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I finally finished Arabesque A for Ayame. The last 3 rows on the right side took me about 3 days to finish! I can't really stitch while holding a baby. LOL. The picture is crappy, but I promise to take a proper scan later today. I stitched it on 32 count Queen Anne's Lace Jobelan using Waterlilies in Iris. I would love to stitch her whole name, but then that would mean purchasing more Jobelan and more Waterlilies. Maybe next year...

Happy Dance #13!!!

OH MY GOD! I finally finished The Token aka The Purple Project!!!! Whooohooo!!! It used up a little over 10 skeins of DMC 3041, stitched on 28 count light gray Jobelan. I am so happy to finish this project. I don't understand why I dragged my feet with finishing it, but it is finally done. :)

In baby news, I had FIVE medical appointments this week. FIVE! Monday, sonogram and non-stress test at the hospital. Tuesday, blood sucking at the lab for my endocrinologist. Thursday, appointment with endo (who made me wait 40 freaking minutes) and appointment with the OBGYN. Friday, another non-stress test at the hospital. I'm exhausted! The baby is doing really well though. She is definitely a girl. And she is definitely stubborn. For the first NST, she basically sat there like a lump. The test was supposed to take 30 minutes. I was there for over an hour, waiting for her to move. Today, she would NOT sit still. The nurse could not get her resting heart rate because she refused to sit still. She was kicking around so much, the thingies they had strapped around my belly kept falling off. The nurse finally had to stand next to me and hold the thingy down.

And now for a public plea. If you know of any way to relieve the itch from stretch marks, please, please, please let me know. The OBGYN suggested cocoa butter and silly me forgot to get some while I was at the store last night. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know. My stretch marks are HUGE and look like welts and they **ITCH**. Please help make the itching stop.

In other news, DH and I were in Chicago last week. I basically tagged along a business trip. I got the chance to meet Jenn L from The Wagon. :) Susan was supposed to join us, but work got in the way. Jenn was a very gracious host. She drove me around and took me to a Hobby Lobby and 2 LNSs. She also took me to Giordano's which was AMAZING pizza!

DH unfortunately got horribly sick. Jenn once again came to our aid and gave us directions to the nearest ER. We were in the ER from 7 pm Wednesday night until 2:30 am Thursday. It was horrible. DH had a fever of 104 and his heart rate went crazy for a little bit. He was diagnosed with a high fever and bronchitis. We spent the rest of our time in Chicago resting in the hotel room and flew back home on Friday afternoon.

He is doing much better. His primary care wrote him a script for some super strong cough medicine and it has helped a lot. Now he just needs to take it easy so he doesn't get sick again.

Happy Dance # 12

I finished this cute design Sunday Morning. Its called Lavender Bag by Shirley Toogood. I stitched it on 28 count white opalescent Lugana using DMC's Color Variation floss. The design originally used pink and green floss, but I decided to change it up a bit. The design was featured in Cross Stitch Collection Issue # 115.

Right after I finished Lavender Bag, I decided to re-start Season's Tweetings by San Man Originals. I had originally started stitching it over one on 28 count Lugana until I remembered how much I HATE stitching over one. So I started it over on a piece of 22 count cream Aida using DMC floss. I like this so much better than over one. Its still small enough to just use 1 strand but my eyes are not killing me and my stitches lay so much better on Aida compared to when I attempt to do over one stitching.

I did just realize after scanning the picture that I will have to frog the last S in Season's as well as G and S in Tweetings. I'm off by a lot! More progress pics to come. :)

In baby news, I saw my OBGYN yesterday. I'm at 33 weeks and my fundal height is 34 cm. She wasn't all that worried about that. I also weigh 115 lbs. The doctor seems pleased that I didn't lose or gain weight since the last visit. She also thinks my glucose levels are okay. I asked for another ultrasound to check on the baby, but she said it's too early for another one... maybe at 36 or 37 weeks. I also asked if I was considered to have a high risk pregnancy because of the GD. She said no and that I was having a very healthy pregnancy so far. So its all happy happy. :)

Happy Dance # 10

I cannot believe that I've finished 10 project for 2007 already. Its a bummer that I can't share one of the HDs yet, but that's okay. The latest finish is On The Hunt by Brittercup Designs. Its from the leaflet, A Touch of Wilderness. I started this project on March 15th and finished it today. It was a fun project to work on. The design is relatively simple, but I still ended up having to frog a lot. This was stitched on 28 count Silvery Moon Cashel Linen using GA fibers.

C'mon Spring!

I have a new happy dance. Hopefully this will bring good ju-ju and spring will come sooner. :) It's Bloom from Lizzie*Kate. Its a freebie and I just used good ol' reliable DMC floss to stitch it. It was a really fast stitch and I had lots of fun working on this project. I also figured out how to do 2 colored cording. Yay me!



I also finished stitching (not finishing) Home for the Holidays by Little House Needleworks. This design is from the JCS Ornie Issue 2005. I will probably make it into an ornie this weekend.

2007 - The Year of the Ornie!

I have been a total slacker and haven't bothered to post HD's or update my gallery. Shame, shame, shame. I finally got off my slacker butt and found the batteries for the camera (they were in the glove compartment in my car - how they got there I have no clue), and took pics of my HDs.

You can read the details in my gallery.










Not only did I finish my model today, I also finished Dragon Dreams' Morning Fairy! Yay!!! I think I will work on Long Dog's The Token aka The Purple Project next.