So Close....To A Finish

I'm here and have been working away.  Just not so good at keeping you updated.  I'm sorry.

Week before last I went back to my rotation plan and worked on the Santa Nutcracker.  Here's a before picture:

And an after picture:

Then last week I worked on the Nativity.  Here's a before picture:

And the after picture:

I was so close to a finish!  Just the roof to complete.  I was tempted to stay up late...who needs sleep, right?  Actually, I do.  If I stay up without sleep, it usually triggers a migraine.  Oh well, at least next time I know I'll have a finish.  But I'm still a little disappointed.

This week I'm back at work on the HAED Kites.  Here is where I left off last time.

Not sure how much time I'll have to stitch this week, but we'll see.....

There was also a question about my son's school plan next year.  I remember way back when I was in high school we had some "electives" we could choose from.  Most of the girls did home economics.  I remember also choosing typing and accounting.  We still had to take the usual Math, Science, English and History but we had some added classes we could choose.  They still do that same thing but they have made some changes to the process.  They ask the students if they know what they want to do (yeah, right!) and try to choose a plan for them that will be of benefit to them.  Since my son is very interested in the military he will take his usual classes Math, Science, English and History but also pick up the ROTC classes.  He'll learn more about the military, learn some drills, compete with other schools and hopefully decide if this really is what he wants to do after he graduates from high school.  I'm a little nervous about the whole thing but trying to be supportive of him also. 

Happy Stitching!

Wonderful Mail Day!!!

Look what came in the mail!!! 

You may remember I won a Katy's Giveaway for the chart for He's A Flake.  I'm so excited to receive it!!!  Not only is he a perfect addition for the Christmas display I'm working on for this Christmas, this is also the first Little House Needleworks pattern for me.  I know so many of you are big fans of them and I can't wait to fall in love too.  Katy, thank you so much.  You will never know how much this has blessed me!  I have to purchase some materials, but soon you will see me working on this.

Rotation Thrown Out the Window

I know you've probably been wondering where I am.  I'm here.  I just don't have a lot to report.  DS has signed up for high school for next year.  He's decided to go the JR ROTC route.  He's very excited about that.  Then last week we had Spring Break.  Only a little over 30 actual school days left for this year.  That makes him VERY VERY happy!

As you can tell by the title of this post, I haven't been doing my rotation.  I LOVE this new HAED!  I just don't want to put it down.  But I probably will switch out after this week.  I need to see some real progress.  Not that I'm not making progress, but I'm not going to be finished with this any time soon and because of all the color changes it's a little slow going.  I love all the colors.  The first 10 X 10 square had over 30 different colors!  Here's a picture for you.

Rainy Days and Mondays.....

Yesterday was both a rainy day and a Monday!  Not a good combination.  But I had two exciting things happen that turned my frown upside down!!!!

First I got an email from Kate over at The Flying Needle.  I won her giveaway of He's A Flake chart!!! I couldn't believe it.  Of course, when you enter a giveaway you do cross your fingers and hope but I've never won a giveaway so it was a wonderful surprise!

I can't wait to stitch this up and add it to my growing pile of ornaments to finish.  You may remember that I really want to do a display kind of like Carol over at Stitching Dreams.  I think I mentioned it before but didn't post the link.  Here it is.  I just love the ornament arrangement down the stairway.  Of course, I know mine will not look as fabulous as Carol's.  I'm just in awe of her staircase.  (And many of her other projects as well.)  But I hope to make a stab at it this year.  So I'm busy stitching some ornaments to finish for this project.  He's A Flake will be joining the line up.  WHOOO HOOO!

The second thing is that our hot water heater is fixed!!!  Trust me, I know it seems like it took forever.  We have a warranty that covers our hot water heater. So when we came home from work and discovered the leak, of course, we called right away.  We were told to call back in the morning to schedule a plumber.  So we did.  He came out.  Confirmed that we needed to replace the hot water heater.  He called it in with a quote that had to be approved.  Finally approved.  Oh, but wait.  He can't just go to the local box store and pick one up.  They have to order one for us and have it shipped to the plumber.  So he brings it out yesterday and opens up the package.  Guess what.  It's too big to fit in the space.  That's right - they had asked how many gallons of water did it hold but not how big is the unit.  Thankfully they allowed him to re-box it and ship it back but in the meantime allowed him to go to the local box store and pick one up for us.  YEAH!!!!  Hot water!  (Without having to boil it on the stove first!)

So you know I haven't had much stitching time at all the last week.  In fact, most of my stitching is done on the weekends since I work full time and then have to help my son with homework in the evenings along with other household chores.  Some times I manage to get in a few stitches on my lunch break or after work but the bulk of it is on the weekends.  I didn't even pick up a needle this past weekend.  So I have decided that I will have a two week rotation on my new start.  I have stitched some, but really I haven't made a lot of progress and I don't want to put it down.  I'm just checking in to let you know I'm going to continue stitching on this project for another week.  I'll be back next week with an update for you.

Kites Update

I have a small amount of progress to show on Kites:

Not sure if you can see the progress or not....but I now have 7% done.  Still a LONG way to go.

This week I've started my new HAED.  You knew I wouldn't be able to resist for long!  This is the pattern my husband got me for Valentines Day.  He predicts I'll be done by 2033!  HA HA.

Here's a reminder of what it looks like finished....

Last night, I came home to find our hot water heater had sprung a leak.  So no stitching last night.  Hopefully by the end of the day everything will be back to normal and I can stitch tonight. 

Overdue Update

I'm so sorry, I had issues with the camera and could not post an update last week.  I think I have things solved.

Two week ago I started the Santa Nutcracker.  I didn't have a before picture since it was a new start.  Here is where I ended the week.  Not a lot of progress, but I think he's looking cute!

Last week I worked on the Nativity Silhouette.  Here is where I started the week:

And here is where I ended the week.

This week it's back to my Heaven and Earth pattern.  I hope to make a lot of progress, but not sure how the week will end up.  Here's where I'm starting from....

I'm off to see what you guys are working on!

Rotation Update and a New Chart!

This past week was a much better week.  Everyone is feeling better.  Fingers crossed that it stays that way!

This week I started a new project Plaid Greetings by Ladybug Lane Designs from Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments 2009.  I finished!!!!

Well all except the beads.  I thought I had them in my stash but I guess I already used them.  I'll have to get some more before I finish it into an ornament.  But I'm calling the stitching done!  And yes, it was supposed to have some fancy stitches but I just did cross stitches throughout. 

I know you are probably wondering why on earth I'm still doing so much Christmas stuff.  This past Christmas Carol over at Stitching Dreams posted a picture of her staircase display of ornaments.  Did you happen to see it?  I fell in love with it!  I'm really hoping to have something like this for myself this coming Christmas. Even though I've made some ornaments in the past, I've always given them away as gifts so I don't have any.  I'm really hoping to make enough to do a decent display and then continue adding on in the future. 

So what's up this week?  It's the Santa Nutcracker from the Nutcracker Quartet in the Just Cross Stitch Magazine November/December 2012 issue.  We started a collection of Nutcrackers for our son when he was little so each year he gets a new one that we display in our living room.  I'll have to get a picture this Christmas of his collection.  He'll still get a new one this year, but I thought he might enjoy some ornaments as well.  Here is a picture from the magazine....

Yes, it's another new start so no before picture. 

I wanted to thank you guys for helping me add the "follower" tab to my blog.  Hopefully it will work correctly, if not please let me know.  I'm still learning how to do this.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  Look what my hubby got me...



Yes, another HAED!!!!  We had a Westie for almost 15 years and he died about two years ago.  He was the best dog ever!  I can't wait to start this one - but not this week.  It'll be in my rotation soon.