YOP Week #47

Whoa Nellie!  Have I missed several weeks?  And is there really only 3 weeks left...I must have miscounted because that does not figure out to be July 1st.  Someone please help me...have I been 'off' all year and no one has said anything?
Anyway, I'm here and this is the last day of............

for me anyway.

  WIPs (works in progress):
1)  I chose to start 19 new projects as it is my first year of Stitch Maynia.  You can go look at my posts but really there's not much to see when one is just starting a cross stitch project.  Here is my last one for today.............

2) I have worked on sock #2 a bit but then Maynia took over.........I'm almost done with the heel flap.......

3)  I almost found time for sewing but first I had to cut and pin and by that time I had other things I had to do.....hopefully I'll make progress this week especially now that the Maynia crunch is over with for a bit.   This is the lining for the Frida Kahlo basket I crocheted for my daughter's birthday....last year....hopefully I can finish it for her birthday this year!

 Plus, I had to make more hand pies to use up the last 3 apples..............

Acquisitions:  None that you can see but I ordered them for my Mother's Day gift and they should be here this week!  I'm so excited and of course it is all crafty stuff!

New Starts Planned: they're all secret! LOL!

YOP Goals from last week:
*1.  work on sock #2
2. audition and cut fabric for Pickle Dish #6 of 11 solid ones
3. trim all completed xs
4. kit up house ornament
*5. work on Frida Kahlo basket
6. kit up and start Summer cross stitch
*7. get ready for Stitch Maynia and participate starting May 1st!


YOP Goals for this coming week:
1.  work on sock #2
2. audition and cut fabric for Pickle Dish #6 of 11 solid ones
3. trim all completed xs
4. kit up house ornament
5. work on Frida Kahlo basket
6. kit up and start Summer cross stitch
7. measure Grayson's blanket and keep working on it!
8. plan July gifts to make

TOP 10 (or more) WIP's:

1)  Pickle Dish
2)  Stars and Stripes Saturday - America x-stitch - done but needs finishing
3)  Amy's Frido Kahlo basket (July birthday) - done but needs to be sewn together
4)  Pin's embroidery
5)  socks
6)  C2C blanket for Grayson (July birthday) 
7)  Monthly Monday - HRH January
8)  Witchy Wednesday - Button-Eyed Cat
9)  Fall Friday -
10)  Santa Sunday -Old St. Nick - done but needs 'finishing' work
11.  Turkey Thursday
12.  Seasonal Sunday -Summer
13.  Santa Sunday - new house ornament

 Finishes so far in 2018-19: 
1.  4th of July cross stitch pillow/ornie
2.  Hitchhiker shawl
3.  Felici Hibiscus self-striping socks
4.  Felted wool loafer slippers with leather soles for me Sam
5.  washcloth (extra large) and back scrubber for Christmas or birthday for SIL
6.   Iowa Hawkeye hats for Sam and Grayson
7.  Techniques learned so far this year: a) knit cast on, b) reading a knitting chart, c) lace work, d) inserting and using a lifeline e) charting a graphghan
8.   dishcloth(s)...I need to count them
9. Cubs hat for Uriah
10. 12 days of Christmas Advent gifts
11. Cowl for Ben
12. Cowl for Tracy
13. Cowl for Natalie
14.  # 2018 Collectible ornaments for the grands
15.  Cowl for me or gift basket
16.  11 scrubbies for gift basket
17.  1 pot handle cover for gift basket
18.  Ben's Bear's hat
19.  Falling Leaves Scarf
20.  Tissue Box Cover - 5 of them!
21.  Granny Square Shawl
22.  Kathleen Tracy doll quilt
23.  Pumpkin Spice Farm xs
24.  Spring xs

 Please stop by and see all the other fantastic projects that other YOP'ers are working on.
Happy Trails!!!

Stitch Maynia Day #17 and #18

I thought I had better blog now as storms are headed in our direction.  I forgot to show you the hand pies I made!  I used a recipe from All Recipes by Chef John.....he has the best recipes!
Before baking..........

 After baking.........

These are great for me as opposed to a whole pie.  I love them!  These are apple and only required 2 apples...I have 3 apples left so I might make some more this afternoon.  I want to make other fruits too...........yummo!
As for Stitch Maynia Day #17..........Snow Days...another free pattern from Glory Bee

Still loving my 'railroading' of the stitches.
Stitch Maynia Day #18....tomorrow's the last day for me......it's been so much fun!  Then on to finishing all of them before next year's Maynia!  Another Glory Bee design and Halloween...one of my favorites to stitch.......

That 'railroading' is looking pretty nice if I do say so myself

Wednesday I mowed, Thursday I planted herb plants and I have been splitting my time between cleaning inside and yard work and gardening(container) outside....a little Spring 'sprucing up'...........

 I potted up 2 basil plants, a cilantro, flat leaf parsley, thyme and mint.  The only safe place for plants...my front porch...........

and sadly...the last of the peonies...........so lovely to look at and to smell.....

There's a tornado watch until 8:00 p.m. for only 2 counties in AR......mine and the one next to me which I border.....not a good sign........I just moved the truck up close to the garage door to protect Nitty.  The girls used to always go down in the basement with me but Nitty can't do stairs anymore and I can't lift her, so we pray!  I also have the weather radio on.
Have a safe and cozy Saturday night where you are!
Happy Trails!!!

Stitch Maynia Day #9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16!!!

I really fell behind........and I showed you SM Day #11 yesterday.....the October one.....I hadn't taken pictures of the others which was the problem.  But I have now!

Day #9 -This is a free pattern from The Snowflower Diaries called Pumpkins for Cathey (2013) in memory of her friend Cathey from Pumpkin Patch and Co. She used fancy floss but I am using DMC but that pumpkin looks pretty yellow to me...........

Day #10 - This was a free pattern but I don't remember from who and the pattern doesn't state.  You can't see the letters very clearly because they will be outlined when done which is back stitch and that will make them stand out.

Day #11 - I showed you yesterday
Day #12 - This is a free pattern from Lizzie Kate called Liberty.......I'm almost done with this one!

Day #13 -  This is another free but unknown author.  This is on smaller count fabric and is going to take longer as there are half stitches and back stitching but it should be cute when done.  It says Happy Easter at the bottom.....

Day #14 is a free one from Glory Bee Designs at www.GloryBeeStitch.com   She has some of the cutest and she has pay for patterns too.  I have some watermelon decor in the Summertime so this will be perfect!  If you can't tell it is a watermelon.

Day #15 - This one is for October but not sure from what designer.......

Day #16 - Today!!!
This is another free pattern from Glory Bee.........this is on some Blush 14 ct Aida that was gifted to me.............

Aside from the fact that this is on some not tea/coffee dyed fabric...I am also using a new technique I learned last night from watching The Fat Quarter Shop's Stitch Maynia podcast.  Kimberly showed how to do "railroading" and I cannot believe how much better my stitching looks!  I wish I would have known this years ago.  It is truly amazing...it keeps it from twisting and knotting plus your "X's" cross exactly in the middle and they all look alike!  Here's a close up..........I always wondered why other's cross stitch looked so nice and mine was just 'okay'...this is why folks!  If you are a cross stitcher or thinking of it...I would highly recommend Kimberly's Fat Quarter Shop Stitch Maynia Episode from yesterday on You Tube......for me it was life changing!  Thank you, Kimberly! 

I hope you are all well and enjoying Spring but not working too hard.  Tomorrow I hope to be back to my "regularly scheduled programming" if there really is such a thing in my life.
Happy Trails!!!

The Best Laid Plans...............

Let me tell you my story.............first my pc screen went black last Friday and I could not get a hold of my Geek Buddy until Monday (come to find out I was given the wrong number) so I looked them up on my tablet and found it.  After an all morning session on Monday, they got it cleared up....updates from MS that didn't coincide with my security software.  I had my pc up for about 3 hours and was getting ready to blog and WHAMMO.......the internet went down and it was down until 9:00 p.m.!  I tried calling their tech support to see if it was an area wide outage.  They usually have a recorded message telling you.  When I went to call I got a message that all long distance lines were busy and to try again later.....I tried until about 8:00 p.m. and they were still busy.  So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Thank goodness everything is working fine now but I am behind on posting for Stitch Maynia for sure and several other FB Groups!
I took pictures and I will post them here but there are things missing so I will have to play catch up all week.
***I got this far last night until I tried downloading pictures and blogger wouldn't cooperate......are their sun spots or something?  Nothing electrical seems to be operating well.***
Here I am back again this morning trying to post....we'll see how far I get! LOL!
The prettiest loaf of bread I've ever made...........and great tasting too I might add....and easy peasy!  I use Jenny Can Cook's recipe on You Tube and her blog.

I think this is Stitch Maynia's Day #11 project....I need to go back and get 9 and 10!  I am really enjoying this and although there's not much progress in one day.....starting is sometimes the hard part...or for me personally...finishing! LOL!  We've had lots of rainy days so it's been conducive to stitching........

My floss came and I have been slowly carding it up and adding it to my Maynia projects..........

More treasures came in the mail..................a very sweet gal from Oregon sent the entire set of patterns for A Year of Celebrations by Hands On Design...this has been on my list from the get go!  At first I thought it was just January but upon opening I realized she had sent me the whole year of patterns!!  These gals are so honest too.....these are the real patterns.....no copies as that is unfair to the designer and against the copyright laws....I am very grateful....the only copies I have received have been for free patterns.  I can't wait to start on these!

Plus, she sent me this little cutie by Country Cottage Needleworks....part of her Glitter Village cottage patterns...........perfect since I am starting to 'ramp up' for Christmas gift making...but first I have all those birthdays in July!

I had ordered this for Christmas..........it's been on my list for several years and I was afraid they would discontinue it..........part of my 'wool' making..........it is from Buttermilk Basin.......love it!

That's all for today...I hope you have all been fine and if my pc cooperates and the stars are all in alignment I should be able to catch up with you all this week.  Today I am going to try and mow although there's a 50% chance of rain...I have errands to run, and of course cooking and cleaning....mercy!  The girls are doing as well as can be expected and all of us seem to be sneezing from the pollen and our eyes are all watering and blurry but other than that we are blessed!  I pray the same for all of you!
Happy Trails!!!

Stitch Maynia Day #7 and Day #8

Hi everyone!  Anyone out there doing Stitch Maynia that reads my blog?  I just got through watching Kimberly from the Fat Quarter Shop show her progress so far.  I love her pod casts!  She is so positive and upbeat and stitches beautifully.  She's stitching the 12 monthly cottages by Little House Needleworks which are so cute!  Plus, I did not know that LHN's daughter is Country Cottage Needleworks...who knew? I think they own Weeks Dye Work's hand dyed floss also.  A dynasty!
Anyway for cross stitcher's I recommend FQS's Floss Tube pod casts.
This is really sad progress.....I cannot sit and stitch all day which I think some of these people do for Maynia.  My other problem is that I sometimes only have one floss color called for until my floss comes in.  Like yesterday...........
Stitch Maynia Day #7.........I could have stitched more but no floss!  But it should be here soon, I hope!  This was a free pattern by The Littlest Stitcher in Italy and is a snow drop....well, it will be......

Today was a bit better and I'm still going.............this is a free pattern by Lizzie Kate...........Hello Spring!

It really is Spring here too with pop up storms and warnings of severe weather but I managed to get out and take some pictures before a storm beats down the flowers which already happened to my irises.................

The peonies are starting to bloom!  I love the smell of them.  I brought one in the house just so I could sniff it every once in awhile..............

I found raspberries...I think .....they have thorns and I found them last year in the woods next to my yard but then I couldn't find them or I forgot...one of the two.  So this year I am going to put some tape around them so I will know where to go when the berries are ripe!

The honeysuckle is just starting to bloom........another great smell!

This is not great...........darn armadillos tear up my yard so I guess I need to put down the slug killer as slugs are what they're looking for and why they dig up the yard.  If they don't find any they stop.  These are not small holes either!

I did get some treasures in the mail today!  I ordered from 123 Stitch and Fat Quarter Shop on the same day and the Fat Quarter Shop order got here today!  We'll see how fast 123Stitch is.....the fastest gets my business! LOL!
I got some Monaco 28 count Even weave....this the only material that Priscilla and Chelsea stitch with so I thought I would give it a try.  It's the same as 14 ct but you go over 2 threads instead of one.

and then I got a charm pack (5" X 5") of shirting fabrics as I need some 'lights' for my next little quilt and I am 'light' on 'lights'! LOL!  I tend to have more dark and medium prints.  I have to start collecting some lights in my stash.

I've been sneezing and my eyes are bothering me...Spring allergies evidently and I was out sticking my nose in many of the flowers so I guess it serves me right!  Yesterday I wrote thank you notes to all the lovely ladies who sent me supplies for Stitch Maynia.  I included a little crocheted scrubby and some tea.  It took me all afternoon but I was able to get them up to the post office this morning before the rain started and then I stopped by the store for ingredients for a hash brown casserole.  It's a staple for Easter dinner at Priscilla's house so I thought I would make chicken Parmesan, hash brown casserole and carrots for my Mother's Day dinner.  I plan on cooking it tomorrow so I can relax on Mother's Day and craft all day!  If the sun shines I may be planting flowers. What are your plans for the big day?    Any ideas for a good dessert?  If I get to Walmart I may buy some of those frozen cream puffs or chocolate eclairs.........yum!  I used to make them when my children were young.  Tell me what you're doing, or cooking or crafting.
Happy Trails!!!
 

Stitch Maynia Day #5 and Day #6

 I did not post to YOP yesterday as I was totally tired and really did take a day of rest but today I was rarin' to go.  My Stitch Maynia  projects don't look like much but they'll get better!  I promise!
This is what I worked on Saturday............these are leaves but it was the only color I had that was called for.....so I couldn't work on it anymore.   I did work some on my crocheted blanket and I finally looked up the size of a twin blanket and it is 66" X 90" so I need to measure mine.

 Then today I worked on this but just a bit.  Tonight it will get more attention.  I'm still knitting my sock on breaks during the day and then cross stitching in the evening.....

I received another 'treasure' in the mail today.  This one was from Kate in Canada.  So sweet....wrote me a lovely note and sent me these materials!

The first one is opalescent which I had heard about but never seen.  It has sparkles!  It will be great for Christmas ornies!  Over the weekend I ordered floss and some 28 ct. Monaco fabric.  Hopefully, the floss will get here soon as I need it.
I've saved all the addresses from the packages that people sent me and will be sending them a little something as a 'thank you' plus a thank you note.  I need to get on that tomorrow!
Today was busy as Monday's  usually are especially if I rest on Sunday.  Today I cleaned 3 litter boxes and 2 toilets and changed linens and washed comforters and sheets and went to Walmart and ironed and that was my day. 
The girls have been fed and now it's time for their meds.  They usually get a denta chew for a treat but they haven't been eating them.  Since they don't take water with their pills I like to give them something to get the taste out of their mouths as some pills can be very bitter.  I think their teeth and gums are old and sore maybe.  So, I got some turkey hotdogs that I will cut up into bite size pieces for them.  Then it will be time for my supper, cross stitch and t.v..............ahhhhhh!  Always glad to get off my feet at the end of the day.  I hope you had a great Monday.  It rained here all morning but then stopped.  The sun tried to make a feeble attempt to come out but failed.  More rain predicted for tonight......and this week.  Should I start building a boat?
Happy Trails!!!