IHSW July

For this IHSW, I worked on At the Met by Mirabilia. I am getting close to finishing her. Yay!

It has been awhile since I last posted an update. I finished French Country Elephant by JBW Designs for my nephew that was born last month. It is stitched on Marble Belfast linen using Turkish Red thread by Weeks Dye Works.

We visited our new nephew earlier this month for a short vacation, and I started working Azalea by Nora Corbett. She is stitched on Bo-Peep Pink Cashel linen. Once I finish At the Met, I will then continue working on Azalea.

Thanks for stopping by!

March IHSW

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I cleaned, worked with the dogs, and managed to get a little stitching done. Yay!

I have finished cross stitching (well mostly) Morning Glory. Next up is beading and finishing a few random stitches here and there. I am quite pleased with how she is turning out. Hopefully I can finish the beading this week and then drop her off at the framer :)

Thanks for stopping by!

IHSW February

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

I found a little time to stitch, but it seemed like I spent most of my time cleaning (no fun) and playing with the dogs (good exercise).

I did make a little progress on Morning Glory. She has a face, some hair, and part of her arms. She looks a bit silly right now. Poor thing!

Thanks for stopping by!

January IHSW

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

For IHSW, I finished Gingerbread Cottage by Country Cottage Needleworks. It is my first finish of 2104 :) I have always liked this pattern and finally starting working on it this past Christmas.

I also worked on Morning Glory by Nora Corbett. This was my New Year's Day start, and I am happy to be working on her again. She will be a Christmas present this year.

Thanks for stopping by!

IHSW May

It has been a while since I last posted. The good news is that I started my new job at the beginning of May. The bad news is that I have not had much time to stitch. I have been coming home tired, but hopefully I will adjust to my new schedule and find time for more stitching.

For IHSW, I worked on Japanese Garden. Before I started work, I finished all the cross-stitching. Now I am working on the beading, and there are a lot of beads :) Below is some of the beading, and my goal is to finish this beauty up by the end of May. I am so excited :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

March IHSW

I hope everyone had a great weekend! It was gorgeous here-warm and sunny :)

This weekend I finished Cattleya Orchid by Chatelaine!! It is my first finished Chatelaine, but not my first Chatelaine start. Japanese Garden was my first, and hopefully I will finish that in a few months (I am aiming for May). While I was beading away, I noticed that part of the gold border was supposed to have green beads in it. Ooops! I made the executive decision to leave it alone since I did not feel like pulling out those stitches.

And some close-ups:

I can't get over how sparkly this is! When I walk by it, it just shimmers! And it doesn't even have that many beads in it. I am quite pleased with it :)

Lastly, a picture of my other orchid. It just started blooming :)

Thanks for stopping by!

IHSW January

I hope everyone had a great weekend and found some time to stitch :) The sun finally came out this weekend after nine days of clouds, four inches of rain, snow (a rarity for Alabama), and cold. I was definitely ready for some sun.

This weekend, I worked on Cattleya Orchid by Chatelaine. Its bright colors were refreshing after all the icky weather. I finished the center square (including the over-one center) and started working on the big orchid. The little orchids around the center are so adorable :) I love the way this one is turning out.

Thanks for stopping by, and I look forward to seeing everyone's stitching progress :)

December IHSW

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. For IHSW this month, I finished Silent Night by Country Cottage Needleworks. I started this one earlier this month because the design was too cute, and I loved the verse. I did make a few changes to the design. I used gold metallic thread for the stars (because I wanted them sparkly), and I used CC's Spinach for the pine trees and branches instead of the called-for green thread.

It is hard to believe that this is going to be my last finish of 2012! Where has the year gone??

This week I will be doing some Christmas baking- turtle candy and pecan pie. Yum! I also plan to work on Lady Hera because she has been neglected due to all my Christmas stitching. She needs her face stitched :)

Thanks for stopping by and Merry Christmas!

November IHSW

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

For IHSW, I worked on Japanese Garden and finished part of the right bridge. I still need to fill in a bunch of bamboo leaves. They are fairly easy to stitch, but there are so many of them. Hopefully I will be able to finish this section off tonight.

For everyone in the US, Happy Thanksgiving! I am looking forward to eating the chocolate-almond cake balls I finished this morning on Thanksgiving. It is going to be hard resisting them. My favorite part of Thanksgiving is definitely the desserts :)

IHSW October

I hope everyone had a great weekend and found some time to stitch :)

This weekend I finished a small, little ornament from October by Prairie Schooler. It was fall-themed, and I wanted to stitch one more fall-themed piece :)

I also worked on the right border in Japanese Garden, but as you can see, I did not get much done. Every little bit counts though :) I will be working on this one during the week, so hopefully next week, I have a much better progress pic. Since the end is approaching, I am getting quite excited about finishing it and stitching more Chatelaines. After Japanese Garden I will finish up Moyland Castle, but in between these two, I might have to start a new one. I guess I better get stitching!

Thanks for stopping by, and I can't wait to see everyone's progress!

IHSW August

Sorry for the late post. I had to report for jury duty yesterday, and I didn't get a chance to take a picture until today. For IHSW, I started Lady Hera by Mirabilia. The fabric is Autumn Blush belfast and is a light pink-beige color. Her dress is the yellow stitching, the reds and oranges are part of her cape (not sure what to call it), and I worked on the bouquet of flowers that she is holding in her hand.

Last week I finished up Halloween Rules by Lizzie Kate. The rules are quite adorable :)

Have a great week, and I look forward to seeing everyone's IHSW progress!

July IHSW

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I spent a lot of time stitching, read a little, made vidalia onion jelly (tasted good out of the pot), and was a mosquito magnet at the dog park :(

For IHSW, I worked on Moyland Castle. I finished the left half-circle garden and started the top right triangle. The half-circle gardens are quite pretty with all the purples and greens. I can't wait to see how it looks when I finish all four of them. I better get stitching then :)

Thanks for stopping by, and I look forward to seeing everyone's IHSW progress!

IHSW May

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

For IHSW, I worked on part 2 of Moyland Castle. I did not quite finish it (in part because I finished reading Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris). I still have to fill in the Jessica flowers (all the small open squares) and do some outlining. I loved the Algerian eyelets, which were stitched with Tulip Festival by Gloriana. It is such a pretty mix of colors :) This half-circle garden is repeated on all four sides, so I still have a lot left to do for this part.

I look forward to seeing everyone's stitching progress! Have a great week :)

IHSW April

I hope everyone had a great weekend and had some time to stitch!

I worked on Moyland Castle this weekend (and last weekend when we were in Charleston for vacation). The sky is such a vibrant, pretty blue, and I am almost done with the first part too! Yay!

I am going to continue working on this piece until I finish part 1, and then it will be time to work on Japanese Garden :)

Have a great week and I look forward to checking out everyone's work!

IHSW February

I hope everyone had a great weekend and had fun stitching!

For this IHSW, I worked on Moyland Castle. I am happy to say I am almost done with the castle. It still needs backstitching, but I will work on that after I finish the greenery and sky in this part. Once the backstitching is in, the castle should be gorgeous and really come to life. I am quite relieved that now I get to stitch with greens and blues. Towards the end it was rough-going with all the grays and browns.

I also wanted to let everyone know that I am going to take a little break from blogging as I finish up work for my PhD. I plan to keep stitching as a way to take a break from writing, and I may have some time to check out your blogs, but I will not be updating. At the beginning of April or so, I should be back and hopefully have some great progress pics :)

Thanks for stopping by!

IHSW January

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

I stitched (of course!), did a little clothes shopping with my mom, and took my new niece's baby sampler and Snowflake Serenade to the framers.

For IHSW, I worked on Moyland Castle. My silks have not arrived yet so there are a lot of random empty spots that will need to be filled in when they do arrive-I can't wait! The castle is coming along, but there are so many different shades of brown, gray, and gray-brown. I will be happy when this section is finished.

I would like to welcome my new followers, and I hope you enjoy my little corner of the universe :) Have a great week, and I look forward to reading everyone's IHSW posts!

IHSW December

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We celebrated Christmas a little early with my parents because we won't be able to seem them on Christmas this year. My sister made some wonderful presents for me and hubby, and I will take pictures of those later and post them. She did a great job though!

I decided to work on Snowflake Serenade by Country Cottage Needleworks this weekend. I started this pattern last year around Christmas and did not finish it. My goal is to finish it off this week before we leave for Christmas in Chicago. It will probably be my last finish of 2011. Wow. It's hard to believe this year is almost done. I need to figure out what I want to stitch next year...always fun!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!

Scarf

So, I haven't done much stitching this week. But, that is because I have been working on my mom's Christmas present. I got her a little ornament when we were on our honeymoon in Charleston, but I couldn't think of anything else for her. She also is not real helpful when you ask her what she would like. Her response, "I don't know." Well, I finally decided to make her a scarf. So, last Friday night I went to JoAnns and picked out some fabric for the scarf (and more fabric to make another scarf). I am keeping my fingers crossed that the scarf works perfectly with a shirt my mom bought at Anthorpologie awhile back. Hopefully she likes it!

I took the picture last night. The scarf color doesn't look quite so dark in real life-it looks a little more green and blue.

I hope everyone has a good weekend and has fun stitching! I still haven't decided what to work on for IHSW (check out the side bar for more info). It will either be Snowflake Serenade or Mediterranean Mermaid, or maybe both!

Thanks for stopping by!

IHSW November

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I saw Breaking Dawn Part 1 on Friday night with my MIL, and we both enjoyed it. On Saturday, we spent the day at my parents for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner. And on Sunday, we relaxed, and I got a bit of work done on Japanese Garden. I finished the 9 o'clock rock garden and started working on the top tree. The cherry blossoms are so cute!

The rock garden (I am glad I am done with these!) and bonsai trees:

My start on the top tree:

The whole thing:

Last week I said I would post my progress on Mediterranean Mermaid, but I will probably wait until next week. I bought a new camera and took pictures of my progress, but I haven't figured out how to get pictures onto my computer yet. Well...I haven't really tried : ) I look forward to seeing everyone's IHSW stitching, and thanks for stopping by!

IHSW November

This weekend is IHSW! Check out Joyce's blog for more information and join the fun. My plan is to finish the 9 o'clock rock garden of Japanese Garden, and if I am really lucky, I would like to start working on the trees. We'll see though. Hubby's parents are here for the weekend, and on Friday night, the MIL and I will be going to the movie theater to watch Breaking Dawn (The new Twilight movie). Yes, I like the books, and yes, I like the movies. Although, I don't consider myself a diehard fan. I am much more of a Vampire Diaries fan : )

Then on Saturday, we are going to have a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with hubby's parents and my parents since we won't be able to see his parents on Thanksgiving (hubby and I will be in Green Bay visiting my grandparents). Hubby's parents leave Sunday night, so I should be able to make some stitching progress then. I hope everyone has a great weekend, and I look forward to reading your blogs on Monday!