Category Archives: TUSAL

April Report

It’s been a rather fun month for us.  We’re continuing to settle in.  The weather has been excellent and we’ve been spending a lot of time in the pool.  We purchased a new BBQ and patio furniture and are spending our mornings and evenings on the patio.  I figured out this morning that our WiFi is strong enough out there, with all the doors and windows closed, that we’ll be streaming our iTunes and satellite radio out there so I’m going to start stitching out there in the mornings.  This makes the puppies happy since they love running around chasing birds, lizards, and each other.

I’ve spent a bunch of time playing in my room.  Still a long way to go but at least now I can sit at my workstation and sew.

The most fun has been working on my WIPocalypse pile while watching baseball and hockey.  Before I show my WIPocalypse progress, I’ll share a picture of Harley from last night’s hockey game.  When the Coyotes score, there is a howl played over the loudspeakers.  We, M and I, have started howling with it and the puppies have taken to joining in.  At the end of last night’s game we were howling and I got a snap of Harley doing her Coyote impression.  I know I’m biased, but she’s so darn cute when she does it.  Her little howl is so high pitched and “soft” you have to really listen to hear her, but you can tell she puts her whole heart behind it.

Now, on to the stitching:

Finished Hannah Beeby!

Got a whole lot done, then undone, then done on Petite Mexican Sampler:

I had completely finished the tree on the right when I discovered it was one stitch over on the right 🙁  It had to be frogged and put away since I was so upset.  I have picked it back up and will definitely finish it in May.

I don’t normally participate in stitchalongs since they feel like obligation stitching to me but two Facebook groups I’m on are having stitchalongs on designs that I already had planned on starting, so on Wednesday last I started Rose Quaker.  It feels like a quick stitch and I’m loving the colors:

It was very tempting to keep going but I wanted to start Mary Wigham for Thursdays.  I had messed up on Petite Mexican Sampler on Tuesday, and I let her sit screaming next to my stitching chair while I stitched on Mary Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

I am loving the subtleness of the colors and I think GAST Salmon, the top motif, is my new favorite color.

Hannah, Rose Quaker, and Mary all definitely qualify for April’s Theme-a-liciousness, too!

All that stitching has left me with a full TUSAL jar for April.

You can see the different layers 😀  I’ll be adding a bit more to it this afternoon, to finish out the month with Petite Mexican Sampler stitching.

 

Licious-ness

I didn’t give much thought to joining in on Heather’s Theme-a-licious-ness since I thought you had to stitch on all the categories during the year.  Since I’m rotating, I didn’t know if I would be working in a particular project during the given month.  I’ve decided to give it a try though, just to see if it’ll work.  I’ve started a new page with her monthly themes and will add in under each month what I’ve accomplished.  I’m not expecting to have something for each month, but I may just surprise myself 😉

I’ve already spent about an hour and a half on Petite Mexican Sampler this morning.  When I first started stitching the border I had a huge panic moment because the gold border didn’t stand out again the fabric with one strand nearly as much as it did on the spool.  I’ve since added the olive and light olive tones and it’s looking better.  I’m trying to use as many colors as possible really quickly to see how they’ll look.  If it’s a fail it’ll be easier to rippit and start over on something lighter.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that doesn’t have to happen though 🙂 since I think the silks are delicious and already have an emotional attachment to the fabric.

Here’s my December ort jar. There’s a whole lot of Hannah Beeby and Houses of Hawk Run Hollow in there. Looks a heck of a lot more better than a lot of the previous months 🙂

December 2011 Orts

I bought the small Yankee Candle candles this year and burned them while stitching. It was a fun way to discover new scents and I plan on reusing them each year. I’m going to “decorate” them up this year.  2011’s orts will stored together in a paint can container with the paltry 2010 orts.

2012 Orts

January-February-March-April

May-June-July-August

September-October-November-December

Happy New Year

Have you ever noticed when you thank someone, and use their name, it makes them smile?    I have been experimenting with this off and on the past couple of months.  I am going to start reading name tags more often.

I am very happy today is the last day of 2011.  While I know it could have been a whole lot worse, and many, many people did have it worse than I did, 2011 was not kind to me.  I am not going to dwell on it a second past midnight tonight.  What I am going to dwell on are the good things I want to happen in 2012.

Here’s a before picture of my January 1 start 😉


Petite Mexican Sampler
40ct Lakeside Palomino
Au Ver a Soie “Soie d’Paris” silk

I’ve been sneaking looks at the Eagle cam the last few days.  The nest is being constructed but I’ve yet to see either of the Eagles.  This evening, though, I was blessed with the view of a tiny field mouse flitting here and there!  All I could think was she/he better get a move on before someone shows up and makes dinner out of her/him 🙂

Tonight M and I are staying in and gorging ourselves on Pollo, Pork tamales, salsa, guacamole, tortillas and rice.  There will probably be beer and margaritas involved, too.   Most definitely there will be some Whipped Cream Vodka and hot chocolate 😉  Don’t know if we’ll make it to midnight or not, but here’s hoping!  We’re watching football right now, but I think I’m going to ramp up the other TV and get him to watch a movie for the rest of the evening.

I also found 1 more WIP so I’m up to 35.  My kits stand at 26 but that’s only because I haven’t finished adding them to my spreadsheet.

I’ve been enjoying catching up on my blog reading and seeing everyone’s stitching year in reviews.  It’s been making my clicky finger itchy though 😀

The fireworks have started around here.  The dogs aren’t exactly sure how they feel about them.  It is a little strange living in the desert and having fireworks going off all around.  They were illegal for personal use in Oceanside.

Tomorrow I’ll post my ort jar for December and my whole year collection.  I’ll also post a progress picture of Hannah Beeby since the light is so dreadful in my house this late.

2012 Needlework Plans

Now that I’m not working I’m really hoping that I can get back into my needlework rotation.  I will be adding needlepoint, quilting, and perhaps beeding, into my rotation in 2012.

When I saw Annette’s post about the WIPocalypse SAL being organized at Measie’s Musings I knew it was just what I needed.  Mel has a sign-up for a reminder to be sent to you a few days before your WIPocalypse progress post is due 😀

That last bit is especially important because I totally failed in the TUSAL department in 2011.  I kept up with my orts, I just didn’t keep up with posting them on my blog!   Not to be discouraged tho, I’m attempting the Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long again in 2012. I’ll have to figure out a reminder for myself so I’m a better poster.

I’ve already started on my list of WIPs that I want to include.   I would like to finish 12 projects in 2012.   On the items that will be framed, it includes the stitching only.   On items that will be turned into ornaments, needlework accessory, or any other type of small, it will include them being completely finished out.

So for now, in order of oldest to newest, I’ve chosen the following WIPs to work on:

  1. Peacock Tapestry – Teresa Wentzler – started September 1999
  2. Harmony – Serendipity Designs – has about 10 stitches in it – may be older than PT!
  3. Haiku – Dimples Designs – started January 2004
  4. Fairy Moon – Mirabilia – started October 27, 2004
  5. QS Letting Go – HAED – November 19, 2005
  6. Red Desert Scissor Pocket – The Cat’s Whiskers – started October 11, 2006 – needs finishing out
  7. Quaker Needlework Treasures – With My Needle – originally started October 2006; picked back up January 11, 2010
  8. Le Marquoir de Justine – started January 4, 2007
  9. Houses of Hawk Run Hollow – Carriage House Samplings – started Janury 18, 2010; picked back up __________
  10. Ornament
  11. Needlepoint piece
  12. Quilt

I am going to attempt to finish 2 WIPs before making a new start, unless it’s something I need for any classes I might take in 2012.  I already know that I will be taking a quilt class for 5 weeks in 2012 (hopefully starting in January).  I’m also going to look into take a beeding class, and I really want to get to know my sewing machine better 😆

Now I guess I just need to decide how long I’m going to spend on a piece before I rotate over to a new one.  I’ll probably start with the standard 10 hours.  For now I think I’m going to leave the cross stitch items in the above order and slide the needlepoint piece in somewhere in the middle.  It’s very close to being finished 🙂

I haven’t decided yet what my new starts will be in 2012 other than I know I want to do some more ornaments.  During my unpacking I came across a ziplock that contained several ornaments that I received during an ornament round robin I participated in while I was living in Okinawa (I left there September 2010).  I thought they were left behind, but I found them inside a JCS magazine.  I want to ornamentify them this year.  I’m also thinking that I want to start Dimples’ Designs “Fuji” to go along with Haiku and get them framed together.  The nice thing about this hobby….nothing is set in stone and I can change whatever I want to change when I want to change it.

So, I guess my next step is to start a page with my list and get the stuff unpacked and get some pictures made.

Then I need to get myself to the Library and see what type of audiobooks they have so I can “read” while I stitch 😉

TUSAL and framing TaDa!

I am running as fast as I can to catch up! I hope it’s not too late to share my TUSAL for April 3. It totally rocks, and you’ll see why in just a second.

It’s so full because I finished queenie and now she’s back from the framers!

Here’s a closeup of the frame. It has the same deep blue/green colors in it as the mat.

I have absolutely no confidence in myself when it comes to choosing frames so I always drag M along with me because he is so good at it!

I’ve been stitching on my ornaments and Houses of Hawk Run Hollow.

I haven’t posted about my weightloss journey because I haven’t had anything to share. About 6 weeks ago I stalled out. Last Thursday I finally saw the scale start downward again (-1.8#s) and if my home scale is anything to go by this week’s loss will be good, too!

TUSAL and a pretty good weekend!

I was very busy at work on Friday and it spilled over into Friday evening so I didn’t have a chance to post my March 4 TUSAL.  I was gone almost all day yesterday, so I’m posting today.

I had a very nice time at my monthly stitch-in yesterday.  Our teacher gave a lesson on creating cording (she made it look so easy!) and I finished the stitching part of Summer Queen.  As soon as I got home I brought all my beading supplies into the living area.

The bad part of the weekend….my iron died.  I pulled it out to get some fabric prepped for a sampler designed by above mentioned teacher to do some prep work for me and it wouldn’t come on.  I’ve had it for almost 10 years (if not more) and I really loved the features.  I asked in class yesterday for recommendations and am going iron hunting this afternoon or tomorrow after work.

We’re grilling steaks and baking potatoes for supper tonight.  Can.not.wait!  M excells on the grill.

He’s currently stretched out in the bedroom after a 40-50 mile training ride.  He has 4 weeks to his half Ironman.  I thought I was going to have to pass on next month’s stitch-in but it was changed to the 2nd Saturday.

TUSAL Thursday and WI

Today is the day we’re supposed to share our ort collection for TUSAL.  I’ll show mine in a moment.

It’s been a fairly quick week!  I have a ton of little piddly things to do at work that keep me trotting back and forth down the hall between the filing area, copy room, and my desk.  We had a staff meeting today and we are on track to have all trials over by the end of June!!!!  Yikes!  Anyway, all those piddly things make the time go by fast.

I had a lab work appointment this morning.  It’s time for my annual physical and I always try to get my lab work and mammogram done beforehand so I can get the results at the same time I get my physical.  Because I knew I had a staff meeting at lunch (which is when my Weight Watchers meeting is), I stopped by the meeting on the way to work after the lab visit and weighed in.

Down 1.8 pounds this week!  I’ve entered a new ‘decade’ in my weightloss journey! 

I’m going to have to change my Weight Watchers’ “uniform,” too.  I have been wearing the same trousers and blouse to work on Thursdays to help me keep things as close to similar as the time before when I weigh in each week.  I can now pull those trousers on and off without undoing them 😉

To answer a couple of comments from my last post:

Susan – we are moving to Arizona.  We have been looking at homes in Mesa, Tempe, Queen Creek, areas.

Katrina – this is only the 2nd time I’ve been excited about moving.  The first time was when I moved to Japan (with a 10 day notice!). 

Figuringitallout – thanks for visiting!

Now for my TUSAL.  I love several of the Yankee Candle scents (although my favorite candle is Circle E).  I decided to repurpose some of the smaller sized candle jars for my monthly TUSAL.  So here’s January’s next to my empty jar waiting for the first ort of February.

TUSAL 2011

I have officially joined the 2011 TUSAL. I am #164 on the list.  I love that list! I get to meet all kinds of new stitchers just because of a piece or three of snipped string!

 I have posted the dates the photos are due in my column to help me remember to post photos.  Here’s my very first 2011 TUSAL photo.

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