Of Frogs, Bugs and kids...

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted...

The first thing to report on is my BoInk...I finished the next installment within a day of receiving it and have only one more piece to go before completing this lovely piece from Tracy Horner of InkCircles.





In that time I've had many frogs visit me.


They started off as tadpoles and only a stitch or two here and there and now today I think it is a whole entire family of frogs including grandparents, aunts, uncles and long lost nephews!!! All of the critters attacked my Blackstone Fantasy Garden.


I've finished the "brown" knot outline with no problem (well, haven't found a problem yet!!) and was beginning to progress on the lower right portion of the "green" knot and it seemed to be going fairly well until I noticed a problem with the lowest swirl in the bottom right corner. Ripped/frogged that out and thought I was set and was again happily stitching along when I realized that the inner swirl and the "boxes" leading up to it were off by ONE STITCH...



I've spent the better part of today ripping out and recounting and trying to find the ends of threads so as to rip out...



and here is where I'm at now...time to re-stitch and hopefully not see anymore frogs for awhile...

And on top of all these frogs a bug has come to visit my house!!

I truly think it was the flu for my dh and I. He started not feeling well on Sunday 2/8. I started feeling "off" on Monday and by Tuesday we were both in a total fog (which is probably when the frogs saw their opportunity to join my stitching projects. Well, dh and I both were on the mend by Friday when ds started with his "cough". He's had this cough in the past and it is so frightening to hear him. It is a croupy cough that just won't stop and he can barely catch his breath, so I picked him up from school and off to the pediatrician we went and got his usual prescription for it. He's still hacking up a lung but you can tell he feels better because he wants to go outside and play.

We thought for sure that dd had some how avoided getting the "DISEASE"...we thought too soon...on Saturday, 2/14 she decided she didn't want to go to gymnastics. This is never a good sign because she loves going. It was a good thing we didn't push her though. By the time her class would have been underway she had spiked a fever of 102º and was a pile of mush on the couch alternating between hot and cold periods.

Hopefully Sunday 2/15 will be a better day and we'll all be on the mend soon... I can't wait until Spring is officially here and the weather warms up so we can open doors and windows to air out the bugs and the frogs...

Finally another Blog post...

Well it's been a bit since I last did a post...in fact the last time I posted about Blackstone Fantasy Garden was back on January 14th.

As you can see from these pictures I have progressed some since then.

I have almost completed the outline of the "knots" on the first three pages and some done on the next three pages...and I also have a good portion of the filling of the knots done on the first three pages (the first page is actually complete with a small piece yet to go on the second and I'm working on the third also)...

This past weekend we were busy with getting the kids here, there and every where and then on Sunday we went with my husband to Western Massachusetts for another snow shoe race.

Once the race started I kicked the kids out of the car to play which gave me about 45 minutes of quiet time to stitch.

From the sounds of the weather reports, I may get quite a bit of stitching time tomorrow...it is being predicted that we are going to get 4-10 inches of snow, changing to sleet and freezing rain and then back to snow...I'm almost 100% sure the kids will be home from school tomorrow.

and before I sign off I'd like to thank Sadie for this "award" she bestowed upon me last week...and to think people are actually looking at my blog?!?!?!





As part of the award, I am supposed to list 5 of my addictions and then name 5 bloggers who I think are "Fabby". So, here are my 5 addictions:

1. My husband's Coffee (he's better at making it than I am!!)
   


2. My kids smiles
   


3. Cross stitch


4. Lost & The Biggest Loser
   


5. Reading blogs

Now for the 5 blogs I am going to nominate.

1. Beth
2. Staci
3. Judith
4. Kathy
5. Eliza

Have a great day everyone...

Waiting for February 3rd!!

Well I finally finished the latest release of BoInk and now I get to go back to working on Blackstone Fantasy Garden until Tracy from InkCircles(http://www.inkcircles.com/) releases the next piece on February 3rd with the final piece to be released on February 24. So this piece should be complete by mid-March (depending on how long it takes me to do the final two releases).

I'm showing you an up close picture of the latest piece as well a picture of the whole piece. The February 3rd piece is to go in the center spot with the final piece going into the spot on the right hand border.

Enjoy...

BoInk Update

I got some work done on BoInk yesterday. I finished the green, started the gold and started the black (seeing as it will be easier to place the orange and gold with the black in place.

Back to work on it I go...

A look back...September 2007 Freebie Fractal

Back in mid-September of 2007 I was introduced to the website xs-collectibles.com where I fell in love with the freebie that month so I printed it off and started.

These are just a few of the pictures of the progression of the piece. It took me about 9 months to complete this "bookmark" as the website calls it. I did this piece on 28ct monaco and the finished piece is 3 1/2"x 9", I'd hate to see the book they think these would fit into easily!!

This pattern was definitely a challenge for me. It was the first piece I'd ever done on such this type of material (smallest stitches and first even weave), it had over 92 different colors in it (lots of confetti stitches in this one!!) and first full coverage piece I've ever done.

Probably the smartest thing I did with this piece (which was also another first for me) was gridding the fabric with fishing line. If I hadn't done that I would have been so lost as to what color went where. You can see the gridding in the first and second photos. Some of the colors were so close in tint and hue that without the gridding I wouldn't have been able to count and figure it out.

I did this entire piece using my 3" embroidery hoop (hadn't yet discovered Q-Snaps!) which meant I was moving the hoop quite often but it did keep the fabric very taut also.

I finished this piece in mid-July and framed it myself. It was entered in the Hebron Harvest Fair in September 2007. It was one of three pieces entered in the framed category (I was only allowed to enter one framed piece even though I had more). I was thrilled when my "small" piece was the one that was awarded the blue ribbon in the framed country cross stitch category. The final picture is of it at the Fair.

The Frogs came to visit...

Well this piece of BoInk is taking me longer than I expected...and the frogs came to visit...as I was working on the red last night I realized that the blue at the bottom of the piece was "off". Finding an end to pull out was probably the hardest. I got the blue "oops" out, finished the red and then re-stitched the blue that had been wrong.

Today I'll continue with the green and maybe even get some of the orange and or yellow in too...Saturdays are one of those days I get a big piece of time to work on stitchery while I wait for my daughter during her 90 minute gymnastics class. If I stitch quick enough and the frogs stay away maybe I'll even get it finished and get to do some work on Blackstone Fantasy Garden which has fallen to the side this weekend.

Tomorrow, my husband is registered to run in a snow shoe race in Guilderland, NY so I may get some time then to work on stitchery too. The kids and I go along for "support crew" but depending on the race I get time to stitch or chase the kids around.

Until next time...stay warm!!!

Egads it's cold outside!!!!

With it is so cold out here (-1ºF at 9:32 in the morning- Southern New England isn't supposed to get this cold!!) you'd think I'd be getting lots of stitching done...unfortunately NOT...

Thursdays are a busy day here with the kids. I volunteer at my daughter's school in the morning and my son's in the afternoon. I then pick her up after school so we can get him to gymnastics...and then we don't get home until dinner time so it is a matter of slipping in a stitch here or there...


Here is where I'm at on BoInk and I haven't put in a single stitch on Blackstone Fantasy Garden since Tracy at Ink Circles released this latest piece of Book of InkCircles...can you tell I LOVE Tracy's designs at Ink Circles (I have two others in the to-do pile also)...




Here is hoping everyone is staying warm and safe in these cold days here in the US...

BoInk & BSFG- Don't you love abbreviations???

Hello Everyone-

It has been a crazy couple of days here, which has kept me from updating this blog. Unfortunately, with it being so busy I also haven't gotten to do much stitching either.

Yesterday (January 13th) was the date the next installment of Book of Ink Circles was due out. I completely forgot about the date until Gail J posted a note on the BoInk yahoo group wondering where the file was...shortly there after Tracy posted the file. Of course, I was busy getting ready for my Lions Club meeting last night so wasn't able to just drop what I was doing and get stitching. So after my meeting last night I got to start on it. Didn't get too much done but it is a start and I'll work on it more tonight and maybe get it done for tomorrow or the day after.


Here is my work on Blackstone Fantasy Garden to date... this picture shows my work through Monday (1/12) morning...

and this is what I've done through this morning...it is put aside for a day or two while I do the BoInk section...

Thanks for looking...I think tomorrow I'll show my update on BoInk and review a piece I've done in the past...

DH keeps me from stitching!!

This is the stitching I got accomplished on Friday between getting kids to school, pediatrician and chipping the ice off the driveway before the impending storm arrives.



And this is the little bit I got accomplished on Saturday morning.


Didn't get to do very much stitching yesterday in getting ready to go to my father-in-law's birthday party last night. Took longer than usual to get ready to go out there because we also packed "just in case" overnight bags because of predicted storm "Carlos".

We got home (with of course leaving the kids at grandma & grandpa's because grandma wouldn't allow them to travel in the bad weather- we came home so the dog could go out last night and this morning) with no difficulties (most people stayed home because of the "weather" the weathermen were threatening with.

When we woke up this morning there is about 5-6 inches of white stuff on the ground (boy am I glad I spent the time on Friday chipping up the ice coating off the driveway!!). Well, my dh decided that I've had enough "indoor" time lately and insisted that we go for a hike in our local "park". Now let me tell you, this isn't a park like Central Park (NY) or Hyde Park (London) this is a small piece of land that our town has purchased next to some land owned by the state of CT and it has a trail that leads to the blue blazed trail (Shenipsit trail) http://www.ctwoodlands.org/blue-blazed-hiking-trails system of Connecticut.

So off we went for a hike and here are some photos from the excursion.



The ice on the edge of the rail cut throughs is beautiful too...



Sunny had a great time on the hike too!!



And now I'll get some stitching time in, while dh tries to get out of this predicament...

(No husband's were hurt in the making of this blog!! LOL)

Another BSFG Update and Looking for ideas...

Hi Everyone...

Most of today was spent chipping ice off the driveway in preparation for the storm predicted to be coming in tomorrow night. I was able to do a little work on BSFG yesterday and this morning before my adventures with ice. So here is the latest update photo on this...



Now on to some other things I've worked on in the past...the one I'm going to post today I need some assistance in what to do with it. This was one of the first projects I EVER completed with counted cross stitch. I saw this in a magazine and fell in love with it. The original design of it was for the center to be a clock. Well, I loved the "border" of the clock and thought it would make a very unique border for a wedding photo. During July of 1991 I had some surgery which meant I was home on medical leave two months before my wedding. So I did this project and it was completed before my wedding day. Fast forward to 2009...this piece has lived through moving into my home with my husband just after our wedding, lived through a house fire which destroyed many things because of water damage, survived our move to our new home almost ten years ago and now I'm still trying to decide how to use it.




I have long since lost the pattern and have no idea what magazine it was that I found it in originally, so hopes of finding it and completing the center as the clock as originally planned is hardly an option. I would still love to use it as a mat for a photo but not sure how to go about doing that. Any and all suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.

Snow Day Update

 

Well I think I'm starting to like snow days. As you can see I made quite a bit of headway on BSFG with the kids being home. They spent the day playing and watching videos while I snuggled in front of the fireplace and stitched the day away. Nothing else got done around the house but that will change today.

The kids are back to school today (although my son's school is delayed), so that means I'm in to volunteer at daughter's, then home to do some things before picking him up at dismissal. Home again long enough to get him changed for gymnastics, pick her up at school and off to gymnastics class (where I'll get to do some stitching!!) and home for dinner. Ok, I'm exhausted already looking at the to-do list for today.

Future posts are going to take a look back at other stitching projects I've completed and I'm presently working on. I even have one I'm trying to figure out what to do with...but until I get it out of storage to photograph that is on hold too.

Until next time...thanks for reading...

Ice/ Snow Storm and stitching...

Below are my updates from the work I did on January 4th- January 6th (the first picture was taken on January 5th and the second on January 7th before I started working on BSFG).

I'm actually starting on page two in this picture. I've decided to do all the blackwork after I've finished the cross stitching.

Well our weather in Connecticut today is a mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain and supposed to change over to all rain by later in the day. The kids are home from school because of the weather and it is one of those days that there is no way they can go out to play, they'd be soaked to the skin before too long. So it looks like the day today will be spent watching videos, playing games and stitching for me. Hoping to have another update later this afternoon. May even get the material ready for one of the other InkCircles projects I got charts for as Christmas gifts, we'll see.

Also here are some photos of what the trees are starting to look like outside my windows. Hopefully it will warm up sooner than later so we don't get too much more ice. The weathermen are warning of many power outages because of the possible ice build up.

I hate being sick!!

Well, I did get some stitching done yesterday but not as much as I'd have liked to. My dh decided to share his head cold so I was in a medication fog most of the day and not wanting to get out of my own way for the rest of it. I won't be getting much done today either seeing as we are going to Old Sturbridge Village with the kids and the inlaws.

 

Have a great day!!