Awesome crocheting

I just have to share this. My friend Brenda is crocheting a pattern by Annie's Attic called Stained Glass: Stained Glass Crochet Afghan Check out her progress: 

 

 I am really enjoying seeing this come to life. Bren does alot of crocheting for a local children's hospital by crocheting blankets, caps & booties for premature babies. She's also a stitcher but the crocheting bug has bitten her ass quite hard. I'll be sharing her progress cause I just love this pattern so much.

IHSW update

I hope everyone had a wonderful IHSW. I can't wait to stalk everyone's blogs to see updated piccies.  Thank you for all the congrats & comments on the last post. It seems we all like to have our certain shows to watch & listen to while we stitch. I may start downloading audio books to my iPod to listen to while stitching.  I didn't get much time to stitch as we had a wonderful weekend with family. But here's Namaste after putting in only about 20-30 stitches:

Here's the pic of the afghan I completed for a dear friend for Christmas:

I crocheted this in Lion Brand Homespun yarn in color Tudor.

And here's my gorgeous ring:

I have some quiet time now so I think I'll get some stitches in on Namaste. Everyone have a wonderful night!! Thank you for visiting!

Haven't posted in a while BUT....

it's a IHSW weekend - YAY Details are here on Joyce's blog: January 2012 IHSW I won't get much time to stitch but will definitely participate with all my stitching companions at some point. It's really cool as I sit & stitch on these IHSW SAL's to know that as I sit in my comfy spot & watch tv  with hot tea/coffee & stitch to my heart's content that we are all crafting at once & I love the joy that each of us is getting at those moments....it's one of those "Aaahhhh" moments.

In the last couple of months I've finished an afghan for a dear friend. I've worked just a wee bit on my stitching. I will take pics and upload them.

But the biggest news is that I got engaged! YAY for me LOL. Anthony proposed in New York City outside our favorite restaurant on Halloween weekend. There was a huge Nor'Easter that blew through right after we got back to our hotel from dinner and the proposal. It was totally unexpected and after 12 years together was long overdue hahaha.  I just wanted to share that with all of you!

Okay, for this weekend's IHSW I'll be working on Namaste by Ink Circles which I am stitching for a friend who is a Life Coach. Can't wait to see what everyone else is stitching.

Going back to the top of my post it makes me wonder, what do you watch or listen to while you're stitching? I love watching/listening to Investigation Discovery channel & any true crime movie/documentaries etc. I can watch that channel all day & night & watch those damn Lifetime true crime movies. I even talk to the tv especially when I'm watching Lifetime Movie Network. My fiance & son laugh at me - alot. LOL

I hope everyone has a wonderful stitchy weekend!

My Dog Ate My ORT's & other stuff

Yes, my dog actually ate my ORT's. Before I get into that, can someone please remind me what "ORT" stands for? LOL Anyway, our dog eats everything & by everything I mean socks, sheets & blankets, he has an obsession with eating tissue & paper towel. He can't have any bedding in his crate because he tears the stuffing out & eats the bedding. He eats the usual outside stuff & especially enjoys eating other animals' poop, which is ever so gross....he's an eating machine & nothing is safe around him. We bought him a nearly indestructible treat toy lastnight & within 15 minutes of giving it to him, he had eaten the bottom out of it, got the treat & continued to pick it apart, bite by bite, though I have to give him credit in not actually ingesting the parts this time. He simply spit them out. So, last week I was stitching....and yes he likes to try to chew on my K's Creations lap stand which makes Momma mad LOL.  He likes to try to grab my colored pencil in the tray & eat that too. He even went so far as to put his jaws on my WIP of Mermaids of the Deep Blue while it was in the frame. The little booger looked at me whilst doing that like "Mommy can I please have a taste?"  He's SO bad LOL  Anyway, I had my lovely little ORTs in my lap stand tray, walked away to get some tea, came back & the little brat is chewing something. I see him near my stitching, logically reason that he's gotten something he shouldn't, open his mouth & see a lovely array of Kreinik sparklies, some pinks & light green flossies, oh and there was some lavender floss & bits of ribbon in there too. I tried to dig them out of his mouth but couldn't so I let him eat them all! Nice huh?

So after all of that here is my update on my stitching. Here's my WIP of Mermaids of the Deep Blue. Her arm looks like it was put in a chopping mechanism - it's uneven as I'm only working on the lighter skin color. I am recharting the colors on the skin to make the darkest parts lighter so it's more even. I'd have had the face completed but had to frog alot of it cause I was off by 1 stinking stitch. I have to say I love this fabric's color. Kudos to Picture This Plus! Though it's a bitch to stitch on because it's so dark. I have to use a white towel & major lighting.

Here's my small update on Crescent Moon Dragon aka Man Dragon

I forgot to take a picture of Tree of Hope as I had made some nice progress on that one. I spilled ALL of the green beads on the couch one evening & of course, Dino came along to try to eat those as well. I was able to save most of them - the rest will just have to stay in the no man's land that is the underside of my couch. 

Thanks for stopping by!

IHSW for October

I can't wait to check out everyone's blogs for the IHSW we had! I hope everyone got in some really good time. It's never as much as we want I know, but even just a small amount is good.

 Here's what I accomplished. I finished Crescent Dreams. I stitched this for my best friend's baby. I converted the charted colors to lavender shades & stitched the hat in the same as the blanket, I left off the clusters of beads & I changed the star treasures to butterflies. I personalized it for her as well.

After I finished that I pulled out Tree of Hope - I worked on this in honor of my friend, Brenda, who is doing a Celebration SAL for some good news she totally deserves to celebrate.

Here's before:

There's an error in the chart & I started to stitch the beige-y floss in there. I had to frog that & stitch in the color it's supposed to be. Stupid me didn't even think anything of it....I thought to myself "well that's a strange color to have in a tree but oh well" LOL.

Here's after:

I'm stitching it on Silkweaver's Mountain Rose 28 count Jobelan. There are some funky colors in the tree, but once it all comes together it'll be stunning. Isn't it funny how when we stitch, some of the colors don't look "right" but when it's all stitched up it all comes together so nicely? I got a few beads on & those are pretty. I can't wait to get to the other areas of the chart. I'm probably going to rotate this one in more frequently.

Thanks for looking!

IHSW

HI all. This is the IHSW for the month (International Hermit & Stitch Weekend) where we stay in & stitch to our hearts content or as much as we're able. I can't wait to see what other stitchers are working on this weekend.

It's also an SAL week for my friend Brenda, in honor of her.  Bren got some amazing news this week on something that has been plaguing her for a long time. She proposed an SAL on a board we belong to & she called it the Celebration SAL. I will be doing both the Celebration SAL & IHSW.  I think I'll work on Mermaids of the Deep Blue & try to finish Crescent Dreams. If I get bored with those I'll probably pull out something else like Tree of Hope, in honor of Bren.

I hope you all get a wonderful weekend of relaxation with your stitching!! Happy stitching everyone!

Weekend of stitching

I finally got my blog up & running. I haven't blogged in ages. After attending a big family/friends picnic yesterday & movie night with my son, I was able to finally sit for awhile & get some much needed stitchy time in.

Here is my work in progress pic of Crescent Dreams, by Mirabilia. I'm stitching this for my best friend's baby born two months ago.  I had crocheted an afghan for when she was born so I don't feel too badly about this taking so long. I'd have finished it about month ago had I not gotten so sick.

She is being stitched on 14 count gold Aida & I changed the colors in the blanket to lavenders. I am going to use butterfly treasures on the ribbon instead of the charted stars.

I also made a start on Mermaids of the Deep Blue, by Mirabilia. I am stitching them on 32 count Belfast hand dyed Phantom by Picture This Plus. I absolutely LOVE this fabric. This is my 1st project on Belfast & I really like it. I also like how the colors dye so deeply & richly. 

I added some beads & specialty fibers today. I re-stitched some of the skin to make it less  blotchy & looking sunburned. I will go back & even out the edges of the skin. I truly love this design. I was never much of a mermaid lover for stitching & tend to stick to fairies - my favorite. I once took this silly online quiz to see if my personality is more like a fairy, mermaid, or some other few types of mythical creatures.  The results were that I am more mermaid-like as opposed to fairy-like....it said something to the effect that mermaids are mysterious and devious in luring sailors to their deaths. Sheesh, am I a mermaid at heart? Nah! I laughed of course but have always like mermies. As for this chart, I didn't like it as much until Joyce started her overlays in trying to find the perfect fabric for her Mermaids Joyce's Mermaids WIP She's stitching hers on Splash by Picture This Plus. Her stitching amazes me.

And finally, I have started a new ORT jar. I can't remember why it's called ORT so someone please enlighten me.  So far it has a few threads from Crescent Dreams & MotDB (Mermaid of the Deep Blue). At the rate I stitch it'll take years to fill this sucker! hahaha

I will be adding this back into my rotation in the next week or so -

Crescent Moon Dragon by Joan Elliott. My friend Brenda gifted me the fabric. It's 28 count hand dyed opal in light blues & grays and perfect for him. I think she bought it from Enchanted Fabrics. I changed some of the colors to make it more "manly" as I am stitching it for my son. Brenda is also stitching it with me. He roars quite loudly when I leave him off the stand for too long & my son does too as he is bugging me to "hurry up & finish it Mom!" LOL


Thanks for stopping by!