Stitching & Shopping

I spent the afternoon shopping. I picked up a birthday gift and new clothes for DD. Can't resist the Gymboree store, even when I try. Too many cute things!

This evening, I spent some time stitching. I'm 1/3 done with the ornament that I started. Should be an easy finish for tomorrow. It's a kit that I bought last week. I ordered fabric to stitch the rest of the series, but it hasn't arrived yet. I'm hoping that it's in the mail tomorrow. I think they're going to stitch up fast, so it would be nice to get a couple more stitched this month. I'm sure there won't be time for a finisher to get them in, so they can hang on the tree this year but there's always next year.

Looking forward to some major stitching time tomorrow!!!

Thursday...

We spent the majority of today in Ohio at a funeral. Not the best way to spend the day. DH and I had a nice drive there and back though. I took my stitching with me, but stitching at six o'clock in the morning didn't have much appeal to me.

Maybe some stitching will happen tomorrow. A girl can always hope!

Another post...

with not much to say. The UPS man made a nice delivery this afternoon. The newest book in the Friday Night Knitting Club arrived, and book number 5 in the Josie Marcus mystery shopper series arrived. We're starting to get colder weather, perfect for curling up with a book and a mug of tea.

Until tomorrow...

A Trip to the LNS....

How could a day not be good, when it includes a shopping trip to my LNS. I'll post a picture of my goodies tomorrow. I bought a little of everything except fabric. I went through the 2009 JCS ornament issue and picked out two ornaments to stitch. I bought the floss to stitch them, but I know that I already have fabric in my stash that they use. Now to just spend some time stitching, instead of just talking about it.

Until tomorrow....

The start of a new week....

Today didn't work out as I thought, so I didn't get any stitching in or a photo taken of Fright Night either. Tomorrow, is one of my free days this week, so I'm really hoping to get some stitching done.

The weather here has been unbelievable. All we've gotten for weeks is rain and more rain. Perfect weather for staying inside with a book or stitching.

More tomorrow....

November Goals

Here's my first post for the month...let's just see if I can keep this up for the entire month.

My October Finishes:

Fright Night - Pine Mountain Designs

Books Read:

Sew Deadly - Elizabeth Lynn Casey

Goals for November:

Stitch one Christmas ornament
Finish one UFO

I have three or four projects that I really want to start, and had planned on starting this past week. But, I'm making myself finish at least one UFO before starting anything new. The only exception is my goal of stitching a Christmas ornament this month. I ordered (it arrived in the mail yesterday)JBW Designs' Christmas Tree Kit. I'm planning on stitching the entire series, but for this month, I'm going to have the goal of stitching the kit that they released at market this past fall. I also received the charts for the entire series, and have the fabric on order. I'm planning on making a trip to my LNS to pick up the fibers that I need for them at some point this week.

This is my first week of having actual free time while my DD is at preschool. The past month and a half, I've had physical and/or occupational therapy during the time she's at school. I'm looking forward to having a couple hours of having a quiet house to myself. Hopefully, it will prove to be great stitching time for me!

Tomorrow, I'm planning on posting a picture of my one lone finish for last month. I figured it would be better to wait, since I'll probably need something to talk about.

Until tomorrow...

Long time no post....

Well, it seems that I took the summer and most of the fall off from blogging. My blog is about stitching, and I did very little stitching all summer long. It was definitely the summer of the book. It's been years since I've read so many books, but it felt wonderful. I think I got more into reading because I received a Kindle for a Mother's Day gift from my wonderful DH and DD.

Anyway, now that fall is here, I'm back to stitching. I have a few things on the go. I started Ida Mae Crow, and love every stitch of it. And, since I can't stitch on just one project at a time, I'm going to start a new one. I'd planned on starting the first in the Little House Needleworks' Once Upon A Time series, Dream, but my fabric isn't big enough to stitch the three designs separately like I plan on doing. I ordered new fabric, along with a few other things last night. In the mean time, I think I'll start LHN's Pumpkins that a dear friend sent to me all kitted up. The colors are such yummy fall colors.

I'm thinking of joining NaBloPoMo for the month of November. Since I'm stitching again, I think I might even have something to talk about.

Stay tuned for the month of November...I think it's going to be a great stitching month!!!

The Summer of the Book

This summer is shaping up to be a reading summer instead of a stitching summer. I haven't picked up a needle much at all the last couple of months. But, I've read a ton of books. My district library is sponsoring an Adult Summer Reading Program, and I joined on the opening day, June 1st. I read 11 books in June and I'm up to 9 for July, at this point. Needless to say, I won the June drawing for my library branch. I'm really hoping that other adults joined this summer, but in our little town, that might be wishful thinking.

Here's the list of books that I read in June:

Murder She Wrote: Gin and Daggers - Jessica Fletcher/Donald Bain
A Rose from the Dead - Kate Collins
Shoots to Kill - Kate Collins
Evil in Carnations - Kate Collins
Foul Play - Janet Evanovich
The Cracked Pot - Melissa Glazer
Eggs in Purgatory - Laura Childs
Thanksgiving - Janet Evanovich
Sisters - Danielle Steel
Death in Daytime - Eileen Davidson
Finger Lickin’ Fifteen - Janet Evanovich
Dial Emmy for Murder - Eileen Davidson

I loved the books in the Flower Shop series (Kate Collins), I'm not sure why I got behind in reading them. I really enjoyed the Soap Opera series (Eileen Davidson), and I'm already looking forward to the next release. I was a little disappointed in the Melissa Glazer book (2nd in the series) and the Murder, She Wrote book. The MSW book is the first in the series, so I'm planning on giving another book in the series a chance, but it will be a later one this time around. I've read all of the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich, so I've been reading some of her earlier books. They're fast reads, with a lot more romance than mystery to them, but I've liked all of them.

Hopefully, I'll be back with a stitching finish or two before the summer is over.

April Finishes...May Goals...

April was much more of a reading month than a stitching month. I'm starting to see a pattern for 2009.

My stitching finishes:

Little Women Series: Gardening - Little House Needleworks

Books read:

Murder of a Pink Elephant - Denise Swanson
Murder of a Smart Cookie - Denise Swanson
Murder of a Real Bad Boy - Denise Swanson
Murder of a Botoxed Blonde - Denise Swanson
Murder of a Chocolate-Covered Cherry - Denise Swanson

Goals for May:

Stitch 1 project from the list on the right
Start CCN's Bayside Bungalows
Read 2 book

My goals for May are pretty small, but this time of year it seems like we have more going on that really cuts into my stitching time.

March Finishes and April Goals

March wasn't the stellar month that I had hoped for in the stitching arena, but I did manage to finish a few things.

My Stitching Finishes:

A Very Merry Spring - JBW Designs
Photobooth Snowmen - Bent Creek
Summer Fling - Heart In Hand

Books Read:

Murder of a Barbie and Ken - Denise Swanson
Starvation Lake - Bryan Gruley

I didn't accomplish many of my goals from last month, but I did a few. I did stitch something off my project list on the left hand side - Summer Fling and I finished the Bent Creek piece that I started in February. I also read 2 books during the month.

My April Goals:

Read 2 books
Stitch 1 project from the list on the left hand side of my blog
Stitch 2 other projects that are calling my name from my stash room

I currently don't have a current stitching project, so I need to figure out what I'm going to start next. Maybe I'll take a look at my project list, and pick one from those.

The end of the month is fast approaching....

I'm not sure where the month of March went. It feels like it just started a few days ago, but in truth it's ending in just a couple short days. I don't feel like I've gotten much accomplished. I spent close to two weeks following doctor's orders of doing "nothing", so I'm sure that is the cause.

I do have a couple of finishes for this month that I'll post tomorrow. Lately, we've been losing power on a regular basis (thunderstorms), so I've put off doing too much with uploading pictures.

I'll be back at some point tomorrow...with pictures!!

February Finishes & March Goals

My February finishes:

Little Women Series: Baking - Little House Needleworks
Seasonal Sampler Zipper - Bent Creek
A Chicky Easter - Lizzie Kate

WIP:

Photobooth Snowmen - Bent Creek

Books Read:

Murder of a Snake in the Grass - Denise Swanson

Goals for March:

Finish Photobooth Snowmen
Stitch two Christmas ornaments
Stitch one project from my list on the sidebar
Read two books

Looking over my goals for February, I did 3 of the 4. I stitched LHN's Baking, and stitched an older Bent Creek Zipper from my stash. I have all of the Zippers, from years ago, but haven't stitched very many of them. And, I did read the fourth book in the Scumble River series.

I haven't bought much of the new market releases, at least compared to previous years. But, of what I bought, I was able to stitch one of the kits, the Lizzie Kate project, the week after it arrived and have started Photobooth Snowmen. Usually, at least it seems like it, I buy a ton of new market releases and then only stitch a few of them - months later.

January Finishes...February Goals...

My stitching finishes for January:

Be Jolly/Be Blox - Lizzie Kate
Thanksgiving Sampler - Heart In Hand

Books read during January:

Thai Die - Monica Ferris
Plum Spooky - Janet Evanovich
Murder of a Small-Town Honey - Denise Swanson
Murder of a Sweet Old Lady - Denise Swanson
Murder of a Sleeping Beauty - Denise Swanson


My goals for February:

Stitch Little Women Series: Baking - Little House Needleworks
Stitch Be Merry/Be Blox - Lizzie Kate
Anything from my stitching stash
Continue reading the Scumble River mystery series by Denise Swanson

As my lists show, January was much more a reading month than it was stitching month. We've been getting such cold, snowy days that it makes me want to curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and a good cozy mystery.

Pictures of my finishes will be posted later this week, when I have a little more time than I do today.

Winter Wonderland...

That's what it has felt like for the past week. We're experiencing single digit temperatures and below zero wind chills this week. The perfect weather to curl up on the couch with a cup of hot tea and a book. I've been reading more this week than stitching. I finished Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich this evening. It was, in my opinion, the best of the between the number books. Now, to just wait for number fifteen to be released this summer.

I'm working on an older Heart In Hand kit. I don't have that much left to stitch, but I'm not sure if I'll work on it tomorrow or start a new book. Decisions, decisions...

New Year...New Goals

We had a wonderful holiday season. As much as I love the Christmas decorations, it's always nice to have a clean house at the beginning of the year.

With the new year, comes new goals. My goals are pretty simple this year. I want to stitch more from my stash, and try to keep the new purchases to a minimum. I'm sure this will only last until market in February, but at least I have a couple gift certificates to my LNS to use when the new things arrive.

As far as stitching project totals go, my goal is 30 projects this year including 12 Christmas ornaments. I also have some reading goals this year too. I have a huge pile of books just waiting to be read. My goal is to read 24 books during 2009. That's only 2 books a month, which should be doable. As far as knitting goals go, I'm going to keep it small this year. I'd love to have 3 new pair of socks to wear by the time fall rolls around. As much as I enjoy knitting socks, I really love to cross stitch. My craft room is packed with stitching projects, many of which are already kitted up and ready to go. 2009 is the year to start making a dent in them.

I also plan on getting back to posting on the Let's Stitch Blog on Friday nights. Even if I only have a few hours to stitching, instead of the six that it runs for, it will help with my yearly goals.

Until next time...hopefully with the first 2009 finish to show!