A Heaven-ly end of year update

Hi Everyone,
Where did the year go? I have been inspired by so many of your stitching pieces. Unfortunately, my dial-up service and Internet Explorer don't let me leave as many comments as I would like. I just wanted to let you know how much all of you have inspired me this past year.

I have been adding some stitches to 2 of my Heaven and Earth projects since mid-December. After we dug out from the storm of my last post, we got another 8-10 inches of snow the next day. So I had a litttle more time to spend stitching.

HAED Forest Walk Storykeep (Anne Stokes) now at 8350 stitches.
25ct Dublin Linen
DMC Threads, 2 over 1










 

HAED 2012 BB SAL Storykeep Forbidden Doorway (Meredith Dillman) now at a little more than 10,750 stitches completed.
28ct Opal. Moonglow (Picture This Plus)
DMC Threads & Kreinik #4, 1 over 1

It's so nice to see my progress bar lengthen. I also added a new one for the HAED 2013 BB SAL Mystic Garden (Ciro Marchetti) that I'll be starting soon. I don't have any special stitching plans for 2013 -  the fun is in the journey.

Happy New Year! Wishing you all good health, much happiness and lots of fabulous stitching in 2013!

Have a wonderful day!
Lisa

Perfect weather for a Snowman and an exchange

Hello everyone,
I hope everyone had a nice Christmas.

Does anyone want some snow? It started to snow last night and by mid-day this is what we saw. DH figures we have about 10-12 inches of new snow. At least DH managed to get us cleared out for the 2nd time today before the tractor died. The battery is good as all the lights are on... but no engine.

The little birds have been feasting on their seed wreath. And they have been flying from the maple and birch tree to the feeders.







 

A flock of six turkeys came to visit and eat up everything the birds have dropped under our feeders... they weren't to happy walking through the snow....

 

Once the food was gone, they headed for the protection of the large cedar trees.


Perfect weather to build a snowman, but I don't think they agree.

Speaking of snowmen, I received a lovely exchange from Lori  for our Stitched With Love Christmas Exchange.She made me the beautiful JBW Designs snowman pillow. Such beautiful stitching and finishing.


 

Lori spoiled me so much. She included some floss, beads, ribbons, chart, candle, tissues, a magnet, a pincushion, and a lovely patriotic Statue of Liberty ornament.  

My partner Renee mentioned that she liked winter houses and stockings, so I stitched up the Snowy Eve stocking © Blackbird Designs 2009 from the Merry December booklet.  Fabric: 28 ct Milk Chocolate,  Threads: CC, GAST, and WDW, and DMC.  Stitch Count 46 x 79, 2 over 2

 











Here is the complete package I sent to Renee.

You can check out all the lovely finished at the gallery here.


Have a wonderful day!
Lisa

Chaos

Hello everyone & welcome new followers!
It's been crazy here for the past couple of weeks. I planned on posting, but life got in the way.

One day last week, our living room  TV died. DH bought this almost 30 years ago. Since it was a large (53") pull down front projection, that meant a lot of work to take it apart . We still had audio, but none of the 3 bulbs worked. Last time this happened it was a weld on the video switch... Just can't get anyone to travel to repair. So we moved furniture and set up a temporary solution - but now our other TV won't recognize our DVD player / recorder. It's an older TV and the setup menu still lists VCR as one of the choices.

The next day, we were contacted by our contractor who came in to look at our living room bay window as it has been giving us some problems. That meant moving furniture and Christmas decorations again so that he had full access. The seal on one of the 4 panes needs to be replaced, and the manufacturer will have to come out sometime after the holidays to look at them to see if they all need to be replaced.

Amidst all this chaos, I celebrated my birthday. I received the nicest Birthday present from my dear college friend "M". She made me this lovely felted Cardinals candle mat.









I haven't been stitching much lately, as my evenings were spent wrapping packages for family members that don't live near us, and re-arranging our living room. I did manage to almost finish this stocking. I just have to add the beads for hanging and hem the inside cuff. I'll try to get a better picture when it is finished.

Deer in the Meadow©2009 Blackbird Designs
One of the Three stockings in the Merry December booklet
Fabric: 28 ct Milk Chocolate
Threads: CC, GAST, WDW
Stitch Count: 46 x 74, 2 over 2

I have to get back to wrapping - now it's for my dear nieces who have birthdays in January... I started earlier today but somehow got sidetracked cleaning up my craft storage area instead.

Have a wonderful day!
Lisa

Heaven and Earth updates

Hello everyone,
I've been busy this week trying to put some finishes together and get some presents for family and friends wrapped. To keep their gifts a surprise, I don't think I'll post until after Christmas - except for the few that don't have internet access. You will probably be seeing Christmas Ornament finishes in January. LOL!

So instead, I'll share with you my 2 Heaven and Earth updates.
First up is HAED 2012 SAL SK Forbidden Doorway (Dillman). My last update was at 7350 stitches -when I finished Page 1. Here she is at 9244 stitches.

Fabric: Picture this Plus 28ct crystal Moonglow
DMC Threads, 1 over 1, full cross

I just love how she is coming along. 

Next up, I had to move my stored WIP bag to get something out for finishing. When I did, my WIP Storykeep Forest Walk (Stokes) fell out so I spent the next couple of nights adding 500 stitches.

This was my first HAED purchase back in December 2009. I abandoned for quite awhile. I thought something was wrong as the picture showed a much greener bottom. I picked it up again after joining the 2011 SAL - I found the colors used blended into a different color as I continued.

This one has quite a few confetti blocks- especially in the area I'm at now (the face). I do love how it is coming out, but the 2 strands on 25ct has the back very thick and at times my needle has a difficult time.

Fabric 25ct white Irish Dublin Linen
DMC Threads, 2 over 1, full cross

 
I hope to make some more progress since next year's focus will be the SAL QS Mystic Garden.Hopefully I won't get sidetracked too much.

Have a wonderful day!
Lisa