Cross stitch and a cute puppy

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We visited my parents this weekend to see their new little puppy, Molly. But first, I will show my cross-stitch progress for this week.

I worked on the crane in Japanese Garden this week. The crane was stitched over one and looks amazing, but it took forever. And my poor eyes... I really need to get new glasses as my prescription changed. I would work an hour and then take a break to let my eyes rest. Well, it is done, and now I have three more left to do.

Also this week, I finished Wine a Bit by Lizzie Kate. It was a quick, easy stitch, especially after working on the crane.

My parents brought home a new little puppy on Friday. Her name is Molly, and she is a tri-color Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She is adorable and full of energy. Molly was pretty cute when she would chase Mandy (our dog) from behind, but the second Mandy turned around, Molly would scamper away :) Enjoy the cute puppy pictures!

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!

Fall Stitching

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Last week I worked on some fall stitching. I started working on The Apple Orchard by Country Cottage Needleworks. The pattern was too cute, and I had to start it :) I finished the red barn, and then put it down to work on Halloween Rules.

I felt a wee-bit bad for starting a new project, so I picked Halloween Rules back up and finished two more rules. Only two more to go! My plan is to finish them this week, and then start Lady Hera by Mirabilia (my originally planned new start).

Yesterday we took Mandy, or Mandy-monster as I like to call her, to the creek at the dog park. She loves playing fetch in the water :) And, it tires her out, an added bonus for us.

Have a great week!

Progress

Mandy: 3   Me: 0

Mandy, our puppy, was quite the little monster last week. First she chewed off the end of a computer cable. Then a few days later, she chewed off the corner of my Halloween Rules pattern. Thankfully, I had already finished the part of the pattern she destroyed. And then she chewed off the end of our iron cable, so we could no longer plug it in. On Sunday, we went to the store to pick a new iron because I had fabric I needed to cut. What a monster!

This week, I worked on Halloween Rules and left the pattern sitting on the couch, which Mandy then attacked. I finished up 4 more rules, and now I have four left. The spiders in the last rule look kind of creepy and life-like to me :)

I also worked a little bit more on Moyland Castle, and finished the triangle. The unstitched holes are flowers and will be filled in with beads.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cross-stitch update!

I'm back with lots of cross-stitch pictures! So, pictures first:

Moyland Castle: The open areas in the front lawn are going to be filled with beads. It will be very sparkly!

Japanese Garden: I previously mentioned that my Mississippi Mud had the zebra stripe thing going on, and I then ordered replacement Mississippi Mud from two different places-no luck though : ( This bad thread was really disappointing me and ruining the pattern for me. Finally, I ordered Caron Waterlilies Kelp to replace Mississippi Mud, and I was quite pleased with the result. I used Kelp in the right tree. It's not a perfect match, but much better than the Mississippi Mud, and now I can't wait to get back to stitching on this one : )

I also worked on a couple of month patterns:

March by Little House Needleworks. I loved the little sheep in this pattern.

April by Lizzie Kate. I made several color substitutions using DMC variegated thread.

I also started Hillside Travelers by Little House Needleworks. I am stitching this on 32 count lambswool jobelan. Much to my chagrin, I found a dirty black spot on the fabric, slightly above the right tree in the last picture. Boo! I have not idea how it got there, but hopefully it will come out.

That was a lot of pictures!

My public defense went well last Thursday, and now I need to finish the corrections on my dissertation and tidy-up my lab notebook. Last week, I did not have time to stitch anything because of my defense, Mandy, and hubby's parents were also here visiting. Mandy is definitely better at housetraining. Now, she will go to the door when she needs to go out. Yay! This week should be much calmer, and hopefully I should be able to stitch more. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

Mermaid update and a finish

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

I worked on Mediterranean Mermaid last week. She has a lot of hair! I kept stitching and stitching, and still more hair. I love the blue highlights she has though. Anyway, she is not quite finished yet. I still have to put some beads on her tail and fins. Hopefully tomorrow I will be finished. Below is a pic of some of the beadwork. She has some gorgeous crystals-so sparkly!

Last week I finished a quick little stitch-February by Lizzie Kate. I put a fabric border on it and hung it up in my kitchen.

Thanks for stopping by!

Finish and Presents

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! We did minus driving in heavy rain when you can barely see the car in front of you.

I finished Snowflake Serenade by Country Cottage Needleworks before we left for Christmas. It looks a little blue in the picture, but it's not like that in real life. I loved the way it turned out. I can hear the songs in my head every time I look at it : )

I also wanted to share some pictures of what my sister made for me and hubby for Christmas. I thought she did a great job!

First up: Christmas coasters.

 

I will probably borrow her idea and do these next year as gifts : )

Next, she made us this (I don't know what to call it). The M can stand for many things: Melissa, Matt (hubby's name), or Mitchell (hubby's last name).

Finally, I made this as part of my sister's Christmas present:

And, I made this for my mother-in-law. It is Single Rose by Dimensions. I didn't get a picture of it framed, but it turned out beautiful!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy New Year!

Stitching and Flowers

This past week I worked on the birth record. Fortunately, the panel I was working on was small, so I also had time to finish two more Halloween Rules. Hopefully the birth record will be done by the end of November or early December. Then, I just have to wait for the cute little girl to arrive, and for my sister to pick out a name.

The Halloween Rules are so cute and fairly quick to stitch. However, I will be putting up this piece until next year. Next up will probably be some Christmas ornaments (I like to stitch for the season). I digress...but LHN released a cute new ornament this month-Snow in Love-that I will be ordering today. I can't wait to work on it. Anyway, the pics:

I planted my violas back in August, and they started blooming within the last week. So far, I have one light purple plant, and one white one (that turns purple as it ages). Since the seeds were a random mix that I collected, I don't know what colors the flowers will be. So, it is fun watching them bloom. 

I think a big, mean, ugly grasshopper snacked on the purple flower : (  I don't like grasshoppers. The thing kept hanging out on my plants, and it was so huge! For a gardener, I probably should be a little less afraid of insects. Oh well. Thanks for stopping by!

October

It's hard to believe October is here already! This past weekend, I went to the Cotton Pickin' Fair in Gay, GA, and it was a lot of fun.(As a side note, Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy were there this spring filming scenes for a new movie set in the prohibition era). I loved seeing everyone's wonderful work and creativity. Of course I bought a few things and stocked up on dip mixes. Unfortunately, hubby doesn't like mayonnaise at all and refuses to eat dips that contain it. I don't care for mayonnaise, but I think the dips taste better with it in them. So we will have to come to some sort of compromise when we make the dips.Yum!

Last week, I finished October Flip-It by Lizzie Kate. I changed most of the colors. Originally, the witch hat was purple, green, and yellow, but I didn't care for the way it looked, and changed the hat to black, a red/purple metallic thread, and orange. I also used much brighter/vibrant orange, purple, and green threads.

I made some more progress on the birth record-a cute little butterfly.

Lastly, here are my stitching goals for the month:

1. Stitch 2 halloween ornaments (one is almost done)
2. Stitch 2 more halloween rules
3. Work on the birth record
4. Finish the 6 o'clock rock garden in Japanese Garden, hopefully I can get more done!
5. Start LHN's November