Almost done

Today we moved one of our storage units completely into our new house and about 3/4 of the second one, too. I unpacked so many kitchen boxes and arranged some of the furniture. We're not fully in yet. This week we will be going after work each night and unpacking and doing another clean through of things we don't need. My crafts will take the biggest hit here. The amount of boxes that said crafts was ridiculous. I have a plan of action that I hope works. If it does I will take a final photo to share. I am hoping to work hard so that I can take the 4th off when the office closes. I have to have payroll done by Wednesday evening so I will be working hard to get all the extra work for this payroll done on time. If so, I can spend the 4th unpacking even more.

The House is Ours!!

Met with the landlady last night, did the walk through and gave her the cashier's check for first month rent and deposit. My BIL and SIL were still moving their last bits out yesterday but my BIL said he's help us move all our big stuff in Sunday. I am so excited. Last night I had a hard time falling asleep and then when I did I kept waking up from dreams of moving. The master bedroom has two closets, one small and one walk-in. I've laid claim to the walk-in and my husband told me it can be my craft storage area. If it fits in their I get to keep it ; ) I already have space saving ideas running through my head.

The last week I haven't got a lot accomplished stitch wise. We had my niece and nephew staying with us and also my cousin and aunt from Indiana. It was a full house and very noisy. I never thought that I would ever say having over 900 stitches is a little progress, but there you go. I don't have a picture yet because it's still in black and very dark blue. I was told at the moment it looks like a bit of spilled ink.

Friday after work I stopped off at our local craft shop and stocked up on some more floss using a gift certificate my Uncle gave me. I needed 1 more for Boreas, 3 more for the Fright Night Friends Halloween banner and about 29 for Randy Spangler's Boo!! But now they have been all kitted up. I also scored 36x60" 22ct Hardanger fabric for a real bargain. So I don't have to buy any more for quite some time but I will have a lot to keep my busy for a long time. Now I have many HAED designs waiting to go as well as some small projects to keep me occupied and so many stockings I have neglected badly. They are supposed I be enjoyable and I want to finish but if I am not fully on the mood I will not be happy with the results so I do a little here and there but I'm not forcing it.

Happy Dance!

Sleepy Hollow is all stitched! Two Friday nights ago I was determined to be done with it already. It had been over a year from the time I started and I really wanted to start Moonlit Waters and since I only seem to have the one frame I had to be finished before I could. I made the decision not to add the beads to the border but I will add them to the horseman's vest. It is the only thing left to do before framing. That will be awhile since we have found a place to rent. Money will be tight and we will be on a budget till the end of this year but it will be worth it to have a place of our own again.

It is wonderful the way things work out. The day we decided to look for a rental and see what things cost here, my sister-in-law contacted me to say they would be moving from the house they are renting and the owners had asked if they knew anyone interested. Perfect timing. The sudden expense will be a bit difficult to scrounge together as we had not planned to move so soon but my husband and I feel it is possible if we tighten our belts a bit. I am excited as we should be moved in before my son starts kindergarten and before the holidays. It will be tough as it is on the kids as they have really only been at my parents, due to my foot issues. First it was broken and then they found the tumor. I couldn't drive seeing as it was my right foot, so we had to stay with them for quite some time. My son had already told me he isn't moving till he's 27. I talked to my daughter last night about it and she seemed to be good with it. She did ask my husband that when we move it means she gets a dog,right? LOL too funny.

I started Moonlit Waters and was surprised how fast it is working up. Although at his point I am only using two colors, black and a midnight blue that is almost black. Thank God that I decided to grid. There is no way I would have been able to do this without it. I have had to frog once but fortunately, because of the grid line, I caught it within 10 stitches. What a life saver. Here it is at 63 stitches and again at a little over 600. That is two days of working in it.

Sooo close...yet so far.

The title says it all. Sleepy Hollow is still not finished. I was so sure last night that I would be done today but I didn't account for our AC breaking at midnight. We were finishing the movie Identity Thief (hilarious but very adult) when my husband asked if it was getting hot. Turns out the motor broke. Slept, more like attempted to sleep, but it was 82 in the house. I do not do heat. I prefer winter where you can later your clothes to a comfortable temperature. The company who installed the AC came by and for awhile there we were told it might be broken till Tuesday. I was panicking as it has been getting up to 108 lately. I can deal with that if I have a nice air conditioned place to live. Long story short, (not really possible t this point) the repairman was able to get it running and will be back later with the appropriate motor so as not to void our warranty.

After this morning, combined with not sleeping well last night, I was feeling a bit under the weather. I worked for a bit on Sleepy Hollow but I broke down and had to take a nap while Elora was taking her nap. So here is my progress for the weekend. I was sooo close!

Day 3, or 4 hours total

Speaking in terms of days makes it seem like a really long time but when I estimate the total amount of time spent working on the stocking I think I am at about 4 hours, maybe a bit more. When I stitch it's not exclusive stitching time. I have two wonderful kids to be with so it is often, sew a line, tickle time, add a row of sequins, get drinks or make dinner. You get the picture.

What brought upon this sudden need to work on the stocking you ask? On my way back to work from lunch today I pressed play on the CD player in the car and Johnny Mathis came on. It was after listening for a few seconds that I had the urge to work on a stocking kit again. I have come to the realization that I have conditioned myself. The last time I really listened to Johnny Mathis was last year during my 6 stocking stint and the sound of the music brought back that need to work with a felt kit. So I started thinking a bit more and have figured out the following, listening to Paramour makes me want to work on miniatures, old tv shows and period pieces make me want to stitch, Johnny Mathis makes me want to work on stockings or other felt kits, Swinging on a Star by Bibg Crosby makes me want to paint ceramics, Avril Lavine makes me want to tole paint, and Little House on the Prairie makes me want to work on Plastic Canvas. LOL I guess whatever I am watching or listening to at the time of starting a craft sticks with me and then when I hear or see it later I have the urge to do another. So, here's a progress picture brought about by Johnny Mathis.

Donna Reed and a little bit of Bing

For as long as I can remember I have loved old music and tv shows. I was the only fifth grader in my school who knew who Abbott and Costello were or listened to The Andrew Sisters. For Christmas last year my parent bought me a wonderful gift, a 5 in 1 entertainment system. It has an Am/Fm radio, an audio jack for my iPod and plays CDs, tapes, and best of all records. I have slowly collected a small collection of records. Our library was having a sale to get rid of old media, I happened to go that day, and I was ecstatic to find a box collection of Bing Crosby and another of Nat King Cole and a few other single records. I left 5 dollars poorer but in possession of some pristine records. They looked like they had never been used, not a single scuff or scratch. Any time I am cleaning or not in the mood for the tv I crank up a record and enjoy the soft hiss and pop. Bing Crosby's crooning voice is wonderful, can't get enough. I love when he would do duets with The Andrew Sisters. I have been lucky to find some great conditioned Andrew Sisters 2 record collections on EBay and have grabbed them up as fast as my nimble fingers let me.

As to television I enjoy the contemporary shows and watch a few regularly but I love the black and white shows and movies. Just recently while searching online I came cross the Donna Reed Show on YouTube. I had heard about it, but it wasn't one that is aired in syndication here so I hadn't had a chance to see it myself. Needless to say I downloaded YouTube on our Playstation and have been enjoying them while I stitch. I like them so much I plan to buy them from Amazon. The quality would probably be better, at least I think the words and mouths would be synced. My dad has recommended Father Knows Best since I like Donna Reed. I've seen one or two of them since and have it marked as the next show I watch. The clean humor is refreshing and I absolutely live looking at the sets. I'm on the lookout for some more great shows from this era to add to my DVD collection. Anyone out their with suggestions please leave a comment. I'd love to hear what old shows others are enjoying, I can't possibly be the only one. : )

And just so you can see what I am talking about here's a picture, all set up with a record by Bing.

Summer Fun

We had a very enjoyable weekend. Saturday, we rested all day. The only crafting I did was to iron the wrinkles from my fabric for Moonlit Waters and blanket stitch the edges in hopes that the fabric won't unravel. I am thinking I will still give it a gentle touch of Fray Check, too. I also started adding the grid with Easy Count Gridline nylon thread. It feels very much like fishing line but in a bright red. I have about 1/3 of the Horizontal lines done. It is taking awhile but I figure this little amount of time (in comparison to the time it'll take to actually stitch) will save me a lot of heartache and trouble later.

Sunday, we had a cookout with both our families and took the kids swimming. It was a long evening full of laughing, good food, and great people. I had a blast. It didn't break up till a little after 9pm so I didn't get much stitching done at all. Maybe two Gridline rows and 3-4 rows of the moon on Sleepy Hollow. The whole day was an impromptu going away party for my husband, since he left Monday morning, training for work in Georgia. It's better than last time as he will only be gone till Friday night, instead of 3 weeks like last time. He will probably enjoy the little bit of quiet but I miss him already.

I don't have much to show but here is a picture of the grid lines in progress .

Decision time

Now that A&E is finished, and waiting to be framed, I have gone back to focusing on Sleepy Hollow. Last night I spent about an hour and got half of the moon completed and one strand of floss outlining a portion of the tree. I am really hoping to finish this soon so that I can start my next cross stitch design.

I have fallen in love with HAED designs (Heaven and Earth designs) and while I haven't started any yet I have been collecting a few charts every time I see a sale. So far I have Moonlit Waters, Boreas, Ophelia, The Last Unicorn and The Kiss by Hayez. I am eyeing another called Bathtime. A gorgeous mermaid in a bath with candles all around. I really want to attempt one of these more challenging pieces but so far have found excuses as to why I shouldn't. Current space restraints have been my main excuse lately. So, I hope to keep my current projects at a minimum in order to justify starting such a large time consuming project and keeping the space used to hold said projects to an all time low. I have my to go cross stitch for travel and work breaks, Sleepy Hollow is about finished, Aidan's crochet blanket ( many breaks from this as crocheting has started to make my hands cramp, too much typing at work), my husbands crochet blanket (on hold till Aidan's is finish so not technically being worked on now) and finally, Santa's Secret stocking. I rationalize having so many WIPs by the fact that they are each a different technique and since I classify by technique i technically only have 1-2 projects dependent on what technique I'm working on. Sneaky, huh? With that in mind I have a new found desire to be done with Sleepy Hollow already. I have been waffling between two of the HAED patterns, Moonlit Waters or Boreas. Moonlit Waters was the first design I fell in love with and purchased. The silhouette, reflected in the water by the bright moon is amazing to me. It doesn't appear to be cross stitch to me because of the amazing detail and he fact that it is makes it even more tempting. Boreas is a cross stitch pattern based on a John Waterhouse painting. While I love his work, and also, it seems to have fewer colors, it also appears to be made up of mainly confetti stitches or constant color changes I am not to the point of tackling that yet. When I was debating between this or Tempest or Psyche opening the box, I gave up and had my husband choose his favorite, so Boreas it was. I have the supplies for either of them but tonight I sorted the floss and wound a ton of bobbins for...Moonlit Waters! I figured, I have loved this pattern for so long and since it will be for me, that it will make a good practice project. I don't have the recommended 25ct fabric and can't get that here so I will be using 28ct that I found in my stash. I was thrilled by the discovery until I remembered I purchased it for this project when I bought the pattern and had just forgotten. LOL. So decision made. Next step will be to prepare the fabric, which I will be using Easy Count Gridline on. Probably a major cheating offense to hardcore Stitcher's, but the less chance I screw up the better. I just hope I bought enough to do it all at once.
~ Till next time.